Second Life
by Tashasaurous
Summary: AU-Sequel to "Second Chance": It's been a year since Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine were made human beings and the defeat of Xemnas, but that doesn't mean the threat of Xehanort is truly over. With the original Organization members returning to life, but new mysterious enemies appearing, now joined by Lea's childhood friend, Isa(the original of Saix), the new adventure begins.
1. Nightmares

**Second Life**

**Author's note: For those of you who had finished reading the previous story "Second Chance", welcome to the sequel! **

**To those who either hadn't finished reading the previous story yet or haven't even started, please go and read that first to avoid spoilers. **

**You can find it(as well as many others) on my profile by simply clicking onto my name TASHASAUROUS and scroll down until you find it.**

**Without further delays, let's begin. Please knowlage that I also do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Both rights belong to Square Enix.**

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><p><em><strong>CH1: Nightmares.<strong>_

**_Eleven years ago..._**

_"It's a bit weird that there aren't anybody around this time." Lea whispered as he and his best friend Isa who followed him as they both snuck into the hallways of the castle of their home, Radient Garden, where both boys were born and grew up in. For ages, the two teens had tried and failed to take a better look inside of this place, as they were curious on what Ansem the Wise, the town's ruler, was up to behind these walls. Now at the age of sixteen, they figured that this was their chance, though there was still a possibility that they would end up caught again, and if they're not careful, they'll end up locked in a cell._

_Something that Lea didn't want to do, despite being the daredevil that he was, not to mention on being dangerously adventurous. He loved the thrills, the fun._

_"If you keep talking, then you'll draw attention to us again." Isa pointed out in a whisper. Like his best friend, Isa was adventurous himself, but not as so as the redhead. While they both were born in the same town, they only met ten years ago, when Lea had approached the lonely Isa and invited him to play. Ever since then, the two boys had become close friends._

_Despite their differences._

_Lea was just about to respond by childishly sticking out his tongue, when all of the sudden, a blood curdling scream that sounded like the sound of dying agony filled the hallways which made Lea stop, and also caused him and Isa to glance around, startled, until the screaming stopped. It had become deathly silent. This never happened before, not even when they were standing in this very spot many times before._

_"What was that?" Lea asked, now having a horrible feeling in his gut._

_Isa quirked an eyebrow, muttering, "Whatever it was, that seriously didn't sound like a tea party." in a hint of sarcasm._

_"That's not even funny, man." Lea retorted, clearly worried. "Something's wrong, and we gotta find out before we can get outta here."_

_"What? Are you crazy?" Isa asked, now staring at his friend in disbelief._

_"Aren't I always?" Lea shrugged with a smirk._

_Well, that was true. Lea was always been somewhat crazy, and well, it's hard to say. No really, it is hard to say, especially with red-haired guys(even if they are cute). Plus, the redheaded teen had a good point. Something was wrong, and they were possibly the only ones who can find out before the guards come and capture them, and either throw them out like before, or lock them into prison. Neither were appealling, that's for sure. But the guards were seemingly absent today. So was Wise Ansem._

_Finally, Isa sighed, and replied, "Let's be careful."_

_"C'mon, it's not like we're not careful." Lea grinned even further, before leading the way to follow where the sound came from, even if they were a little bit lost since the halls were like a maze. Eventually, they could hear something that sounded like a wind, and someone was talking._

_But it wasn't clear enough as they made it to a door, which, both boys believed was the office of Ansem himself. Lea and Isa glanced at each other, now getting more and more nervous, before they both risked in opening the door, slowly to take a look. But they blinked as they opened it wide, because the room was empty, save for a chair, a desk, some tubes with hearts like lava lamps, and shelves filled with Books._

_However, their attention was drawn to another doorway which, no doubt led to some kind of lab. The talking seemed to have come from there._

_Lea and Isa decided to see if there was anyone there, and silently and slowly made their way into the lab, though the gut feeling inside their bodies was getting worse._

_Inside the main lab, before the boys would enter, was Xehanort and Braig, and the corpses of Even and eleven year old Ienzo, both lying deathlike, as their bodies were slowly fading away into the darkness, caused by the seemingly no longer amesia Xehanort who, unknown to all others except for Braig, had taken over Terra's body a year ago._

_"Hey! Is this how you wanted it?" said Braig, shocked at he witnessed this, though he had an idea that this was part on his new job description._

_The single-eyed guard began to approach his ally, asking, "Xehanort! You wanna fill me in?"_

_"I am..." Xehanort trailled off, as he held up his right hand and summoned his old-self's Keyblade with an animal symbol on it, dark and gothic like._

_This got Braig's attention, as he muttered, "Hey! Do you remember now, or..." shocked to see the Keyblade again, before asking in his second theory, "Wait, did you never lose your memory?"_

_However, the only reply he got was Xehanort leaping towards him in a matter of second, and the next thing Braig knew, he had a Keyblade struck into his chest, into his heart, as he choked a gasp and scream of agony, which the latter didn't get a chance to come out of his mouth. It seemed that Xehanort had other ideas._

_Because the silver-haired man says, "That's not my name. I'm not "Xehanort.""_

_As Braig's remaining eye widened in shock, still choking, eventually, in a quick death, he collasped to the ground, exhaling loudly, as his heart came out of his chest before it disappeared into the darkness, possibly forever._

_"My name... is Ansem." said Xehanort, having stolen the real Ansem's name._

_Just as he said this, he heard a gasp of horror, and when the man looked up, at the door way, two unfamiliar teenagers stood, seeing the three dead bodies on the floor. One boy had bright red hair, and the other boy had blue hair, which, in Xehanort's returned memories, strongly reminded him of Aqua who foolishly sacrificed herself in an attempt to save Terra._

_Lea and Isa had just arrived and had just witnessed Braig's death. Lea had to force down the scream of terror, but he couldn't even mask the fear on his expression. Isa looked pale and a bit green in the face. The boys were absolutely horrified at this, before they looked up and the answer to this was in front of them._

_It also answered the absence of Ansem the Wise, though Lea and Isa both theoried that Xehanort had murdered him the same way the silver-haired man had just killed Braig, and had murdered another man and a child._

_When Xehanort began to smirk, Lea quickly turned to Isa and managed to stutter, "L-Let's get outta here!"_

_"I vote for that." Isa nodded quickly in agreement._

_But just as the boys were about to run, Xehanort was faster and was upon them, before whacking both boys onto the floor to prevent them from escaping, as he could sense that, while the teens had no idea, they both had strong hearts and growing powers within them, which would be perfect for his goal._

_Stunned and suddenly in agony at the unexpected attack, Lea and Isa struggled to get back up, as Xehanort aimed his Keyblade at them, glancing at Lea first who froze in horror, unable to move. He was going to die, and he didn't want to._

_Without thinking, he muttered pleadly, "H-hold on! I don't want to die! I'm not ready!" even though he sounded pathetic, he didn't care._

_"Death awaits for you. You will remain dead for all eternity." Xehanort chuckled._

_He then prepared to stab Lea who eyes' widened and he tried the shield himself with his arms as best as he could, unable to scream. _

_"LEA!" Isa screamed, as he pushed Lea out the way, and took the blow, the keyblade in his chest, gasping loudly._

_By the time he recovered, Lea watched in absolute horror as he best friend was stabbed by Xehanort. "ISA! NOO!" he screamed out, but his pleas were drowned._

_The Keyblade was then pulled out, and Isa collasped...right into Lea's arms as the teen held his now dying best friend. His body was being covered in darkness, and his chest glowed, an orb of light slowly coming out. Lea somehow knew it was Isa's heart._

_"I-Isa! Isa!" Lea began to sob, cradling his best friend as the body was beginning to disappear. "Don't-Don't leave me! I'm so very sorry! I should've just moved!" tears pouring down his eyes._

_"Shh...It's not...your fault." Isa wheezed, gently placing a finger gently onto Lea's lips._

_"P-please don't go!" Lea begged. "It's all my fault!" which he knew that it was, because if he hadn't gotten the stupid idea to explore this castle, none of this would've happened to either of them._

_Isa smiled, and then said with his dying breath, "I won't forget you...G-Got it...memorized?" and then...he closed his eyes and went limp, and his body was almost consumed by the darkness._

_Lea could not take it, "Isa? ISA!" he screamed, then sobbed harder and harder, cradling the body of his now dead friend close to chest, and cried, "Come back...! COME BACK!"_

_But then, without warning, Xehanort grabbed hold of him by the back of his shirt, yanked him off the ground, and threw him into the wall behind him next to the door into the main lab. Lea cried out in pain at the sudden move, and to his horror, Xehanort aimed the Keyblade at the middle of his chest where his heart was._

_"Your heart will be mine." Xehanort sneered._

_Lea shivered, then closed his eyes, and braced himself. This was it. This was the end. His life was now over. His last thoughts were, "Isa...I'm gonna be with you shortly. Love ya, man."_

_As his tears fell again, he felt a sharp and agonizing pain in his chest and right into his heart. He screamed in such pain. Then...it went silent. As the keyblade was pulled out, Lea groaned in pain, moaned, trying to hold on, until...he fell next to his friend, onto his back. His body was now being covered in darkness, and his heart was now floating up and vanishing._

_Lea was dead._

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><p><span><em><strong>Present day-one year after Kingdom Hearts II(and Second Chance).<strong>_

The now twentyseven year old Lea gasped loudly as he jolted upright in his bed, panting as his body was covered in cold sweat. His heart was racing, the very heart that once lost and had then recovered a year ago, and now was threatening to burst out of his chest. Blinking rapidly, he glanced around, before sighing. He was in his room, the room of his childhood home in Radiant Garden which was being rebuilt. With the help of Merlin and the Restoration Committee, Lea had rebuilt his house and made his parents' room into a girl's room for Xion and Namine, while he and Roxas shared Lea's room.

He had bought some new furninture for his house which he shared with three of the former nobodies, and been the responsible guardien for them. While it was still unclear, in responise of his revival, Lea's memories and friendship with Roxas, Xion and Namine gave him, Sora and Kairi the power to bring the three of them back, turning them into complete human beings with hearts of their own, as the Kingdom Hearts Xemnas created reconsided their hard work and with the explosion from Ansem's device helped the matters.

After that, Lea took it upon himself to take care of the three teens after Sora, Riku and Kairi had returned home in Destiny Islands, and King Mickey, Donald and Goofy returned to Disney Castle. As for the redhead, instead of heading towards Twilight Town, he decided to return to his old home and brought Roxas, Xion and Namine with him which they agreed with. After stating to Leon and his group that Lea would help in restoring the town, the redhead and his three friends were made as honoray members, along with Riku and Kairi, since Sora, Donald and Goofy were made since the trio's first trip back after a year of sleep.

That was a year ago now. Things were starting to get back on track, but that didn't mean it'll ever be the same, not for Lea. Since returning to his childhood home, each night, he'd been plunged with dark memories in form of nightmares, mostly about his first death and the death of Isa.

It wasn't fair, really. Lea got his heart back, Roxas, Namine and Xion were made human while Sora and Kairi remained complete themselves, his parents were dead, and Isa was long gone forever, and he knew that the latter was his own fault.

Each time he remembered their deaths, Lea would silently cry to himself. Right now, he could feel his tears silently fall and he didn't stop them.

"Axel?" came a tired voice. Lea glanced to see that Roxas as sitting up, but still half-asleep. "You okay?" the blonde-haired teen asked.

Lea faked a smile and replied, "I'm fine. Just had a nightmare. Go back to sleep, Rox'."

The teen didn't argue as he immediately fell back into the paradise of his pillow and instantly back in dream-land. Lea sighed as the smile faded from his face. He couldn't tell Roxas about his nightmares, not yet. While he did tell the kids about his past with Isa, and how Xehanort ruined everything, Lea still hasn't told them about how horrifying the experince was.

After some time, Lea and the others agreed that his nobody's name was his new middle/nickname. Plus, he was used to it by now.

He looked up at the ceiling, as it was still in the middle of the night, the normal around-shaped Moon in the sky along with the stars glowed brightly.

'_Isa..._' Lea thought in his mind. '_I'm sorry. I wish I...I wish I could've prevent that from happening. I still think about you, you know. I miss you, man, even though we didn't have good times as Nobodies._'

Sighing again, he decided to try and catch up on more sleep, so he layed back into his bed, and covered his body up to his shoulders and closed his eyes, praying not to have anymore nightmares.

What he and the others were unaware of, is that the nightmare was about to continue and get even worse.

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><p><strong>That's the first chapter done. Look out for the next one either today or sometime this month. Please send in reviews. I'd really appreciate it.<strong>


	2. Complications already?

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Not much to say, except that I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy or pretty much anything here.**

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><p><em><strong>CH2: Complications already?<strong>_

The next day was thought to be a normal day for everyone in Radient Garden. Thankfully there weren't much in a way of heartless and the Nobodies had stopped appearing all together. Like every other day, Lea, Roxas, Namine and Xion would arrive at Merlin's house which is also considered as the Restoration Committee's base where Cid Highwind would be on his computer, even though the guy, in Lea's oppinion, was better at flying in gummi ships or airships.

Also since returning home, Lea and Xion both now wore civilian clothes, with Lea wearing a black leather jacket with an orange shirt underneath, black jeans and leather brown boots. His jacket also had orange lines on the collar and lined down on his sleeves. Xion wore a think dark red jumper, dark gray tights and brown boots that resembled to Aerith's.

Even Namine got new clothes, as hers resembled Aerith's pink dress from Traverse Town, except that hers was white and blue, her new short jacket a dark navy, and brown shoes, and her hair was in a braid with a blue tie at the bottom and a blue ribbon on the top. Roxas still kept his clothes from when he was born and had lived his life in the simulation Twilight Town.

However, Merlin, the three good faires and Yen Sid all pitched in to having made the four former nobodies' clothes in similiar material to their coats to prevent them from darkness as Lea would only use his darkness to open up dark portals as a transport to other worlds to visit Sora and the others, or just simply explore the worlds while being careful.

Roxas and Xion could still use Keyblades, and even surprisingly, they can share them when the trouble calls for it. Roxas wielded the Oblivion and Xion wielded the Oathkeeper. Although Namine had no weapon of her own, she took up learning magical skills from Merlin and Aerith, and a bit of martial arts from Yuffie and Tifa. Lea still wielded his Chakrams.

Right now, while Namine was with Aerith and Tifa, helping in search for Cloud who was still missing after disappearing in his ultimate battle against Sephiroth, Roxas was Xion and Yuffie in Merlin's house, and Lea joined up with Leon for patrolling the town in case of an enemy attack.

The two men had known each other as children, but weren't as close as Lea was with Isa, while Leon, known back then as Squall, was pretty much a lone wolf(probably still is). None the less, they had nothing else to do, and had wondered into an empty deserted part of town. As they walked, Lea couldn't stop but wonder about Isa as another memory appeared. Come to think of it, the redhead also remarked how Roxas strongly resembled to that other boy he met years ago rather than Sora.

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><p><span><em><strong>Twelve years ago...<strong>_

_It was the millionth time that Lea and his best friend Isa, both in their teen years, had failed to sneak into the castle which was the home of Ansem, the lord of Radiant Garden which was the home and birthplace of the two boys. Strange things had been happening lately, like the strange monsters that appeared out of nowhere, but it didn't faze them a bit._

_They were on their way towards their destination, and had just arrived in the centre of town, walking down the ramp to the very centre, when something caught the redhead's sea-blue(a tad of green) eyes. Hearing a clunking noise of wood hitting the stone ground, and caught sight of something wooden land near him. Lea stopped and at first thought it was just a wooden sword. He picked it up by the handle, and then realised that it was a new kind of a toy sword; It looked like an over-grown key that can also be used as a weapon, home-made, no doubt._

_Getting a good look at it, Lea had to admit that it wasn't a bad design. '_Whoever made this has good imagination and good taste_.' he thought to himself. A year ago, he had a dream of being an adult with a flaming key-like weapon, but he knew it was just a silly but rather a cool dream, but these kind of weapons were not his cup of tea._

_He looked to his left and saw a boy around his age, slumped on the ground and looking miserable. He had blonde-spiky hair, deep blue eyes and some weird clothes, but Lea, taking this guy as a new resident of town, and being the teen that he was, asked the kid, "This yours?" to which the boy grimly nodded._

_"Lea," Isa began as he noticed that his friend stopped, and stopped himself, saying, "We don't have time for this."_

_'_Unemotional as usual_.' Lea thought, while saying out loud, "Lighten up, Isa. It'll only take a sec." as he approached the other boy to give back his sword._

_Still, Lea couldn't help but tease, "You still play with toy swords? Heh, that's cute." giving the sword back to the boy who grunted. Smirking, Lea continued, "Now this right here..."_

_Reaching his pockets, he pulled his favorite weapons; two frisbees. These were the beginning stage of what he wanted someday in the future; Chakrams, his ultimate and most comfortable favorites. "Ta-da!" he exclaimed(_with the cue of the "Ta-da" fanfare*Pokemon anime style_*), showing off his things, as if he was entering a contest, then asked, "What do you think?"_

_"Not a whole lot." the blonde-haired boy muttered admittedly._

_"You're just jealous!" Lea retored back in annoyance, before introducing himself with his favorite catch-phrase, "I'm Lea; Got it memorized?" then asked, "What's your name?"_

_"Ventus." the other boy replied._

_Seeing how miserable Ventus looked, Lea suggested with a smirk, "Okay, Ventus. Let's fight!" his competitive side over-taking him yet again._

_Ventus, or Ven has he would prefer, asked in slight surprise, "Fight? Why would I wanna do that?"_

_"You scared of losin'?" Lea smirked, "C'mon!" he hopped back a few paces before getting into a fighting stance to have some fun, saying, "Hope you're ready."_

_Seeing how, in a weird way, that this redhaired kid was only trying to make him feel better, and remembering the fun times in competing against his friend Terra, Ven thought about it, then decided, why not, and smiled, getting up with his toy-Keyblade in hand._

_"Yeah, now we're talkin'!" Lea grinned._

_"You're gonna regret this!" Ven warned with a smile of his own, getting into a fighting stance, which, as Isa witnessed, couldn't help but close his eyes in embarrassed amusement. Lea was always competitive and childish, but those were what made Isa's life easier to handle and maybe more fun. The red-head's grins and smirks were always too hard to resist in smiling back._

_The other two boys then fought in a fun way, but in the end, Ven, who had lots of training, won, and wasn't even tired at all. Lea on the other hand, fell onto his butt, dropping his frisbees, and panted. He didn't want to admit that he lost, but he didn't want to protest for a rematch either. Besides, he had to hand it to Ven that the blonde was actually quite good._

_"You...had enough?" Lea offered, "Cuz I'm willing...to call it a draw if you are."_

_Surprised at first, Ven then realised what Lea meant, and smiled. The redhead wasn't that bad and the blonde did feel a little more better. "Right." was Ven's reply. Lea did put up a good fight, so, even though the redhead had clearly lost, it was cool to say that it can be said a draw._

_Unfortunately for Lea, Isa had other ideas as he approached the two, saying to the redhead, "From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big L on your forehead for _"Loser"_, _"Lame"_, _"Laughable."_..."_

_"Wha!?" Lea protested in shock as he glanced up at his friend, before asking, "Isn't this where you, cheer me up or something? _"You're just having a bad day"_ or, _"That's what you get for pulling your punches"_?" then slumped and grumbled, "Some friend."_

_"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie." Isa replied sarcastically._

_Still annoyed, Lea sighed and said to Ven, "You see what I gotta put up with?" lying on his back and having his hands behind his head, then joked as he glaned at him, "Sure hope you don't have friends like him." and gave him a grin._

_Confused at first, Ven then got the joke and began to laugh, soon joined by Isa and then Lea. The laughing seized as Isa told his best friend, "Lea, we have to go."_

_"'Kay." Lea replied and got up as Isa began to walk away again._

_"Already?" Ven asked, sounding a bit disappointed, making Lea pause. The redhead then realised that the boy was feeling better, and he felt proud of it._

_So, Lea replied, "I'll see ya when I see ya. After all, we're friends now." making Ven smiled again. Lea then added, "Get it memorized."_

_"Okay, Lea." Ven replied._

_Lea then walked away and towards Isa who stopped again and asked, "What is it with you and picking up stray puppies?" if even thats how the two of them had met before and had become best friends._

_The redhead paused and replied, "I want everybody I meet to remember me. Inside people's memories, I can live forever."_

_"I know I won't forget you." Isa sarcastically said, "Believe me, I try all the time."_

_"See, I'm immortal!" Lea chuckled and grinned, his eyes glittering in micious._

_Isa paused, then smirked and added, "You're obnoxious."_

_The two then glanced up at the Castle, and Lea asked, "You ready?" then he smiled, his eyes showing signs of excitement and adventure._

_"Well, I can tell you are." Isa stated._

_"Yeah." Lea replied._

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><p><span><em><strong>Back in the present.<strong>_

'_So much for being immortal and being remembered_.' Lea thought to himself. He sighed as he still couldn't stop in thinking about the good old days he had with Isa, though he did feel confused on why Roxas looked and even kinda sounded exactly like that kid Ventus, except that his fighting stance is from Sora and that the blonde haired boy was the brown haired boy's former Nobody. Was there some sort of weird connection?

But that didn't matter either way. He was almost entirely lost in his memories that he almost didn't realise that he stepped on something plastic, which caused him to stop in confusion. As he looked down, however, his eyes widened, before immediately bend on and picked up a dusted, worn out and bend plastic item. Lea brushed away the dust, to reveal a faded image of a fiery face. Seeing this made him almost want to cry.

"Lea? What's wrong?" Leon asked as he noticed what was going on and approached the redhead.

Lea stood up, his gaze still onto one of his frisbees. "It's my frisbee. One of them at least." he muttered. "Isa bought me these pair when I was twelve years old. He used to always be there for me, because we became Nobodies."

The brown-haired man sighed, knowing all well how hurt Lea had suffered for the past eleven long and painful years. The redhead loved Isa(though not the romantic way), because the two of them were kinda like brothers, even Lea had once admitted that he always wanted to be a big brother, and now Lea was the brother figure towards Roxas, Xion and Namine.

Come to think of it, Lea is just like a big brother to the three teens, and although he and Isa were both the same age, it seemed like the blue-head was like the older brother towards the redhead.

"I'm sorry." Leon muttered.

The redhead shrugged, saying, "Nah, you had nothing to do with what happened. It's pretty much my stupidity that things turned out like this."

But before either of them could continue, all of the sudden, a familiar voice cried out, "Leon! Lea! We've got trouble!" causing both men to turn around to see Yuffie run up to them before the young female ninja came to a stop and had her hands on her knees, panting while leaning slightly forward, alarming both of them, especially Lea, since the last time he checked, she was with Roxas and Xion.

"Yuffie?" Leon asked, "What's wrong?"

"Where are Roxas and Xion?" Lea demanded.

"Some old hag named Madem Mim suddenly appeared out of nowhere and the next thing we knew, as Merlin tried to stop her, the magical battle turned those three annoying fairies into human, Merlin and Mim both disappeared, Cid got knocked out cold while strangely avoiding me, and on top of that, Roxas and Xion both ended up inside Pooh's book, the book that Sora tends to visit!" Yuffie explained all in one go, much to the men's dismay.

"WHAT!?" Leon and Lea both exclaimed in unision.

Yuffie then added, "I already called Mickey to ask Sora to come over to rescue Roxas and Xion since he knows that book like the back of his hand."

"Let's head back for now." Leon decided.

The others nodded in agreement, and Lea tried to get ahead of them as he was clearly very worried for his little 'brother' and his little 'sister', cursing himself for not being there when they needed him the most. He had to make sure that they were safe, and fast. He knew that Merlin could handle himself against this crazy Mim person.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, jumping from a building, were three silver-haired men, blocking Lea's group from going any further, as they skid to a stop, and Lea yelled at them, "Hey! Who're you!? Out of the way!"

"Tell us where Mother is." The shortest of the trio, named Kadaj, replied, "Or at least big brother." confusing Lea, Leon and Yuffie who all glanced at each other.

"What are you talking out?" Lea demanded.

"Where's mother?" the largest silver-haired man, named Loz, repeated Kadaj's question.

Leon sighed, "Look, none of us have any idea where your mother is. Go ask someone else, we're busy." though he had a bad gut feeling about these men.

Yazoo, the last silver-haired one, just smirked, and said almost melodramatically, "No use in lying. We know you hid her."

"No we don't!" Yuffie retorted. "The only silver-haired person we know is some guy named Sephiroth who is probably still fighting our friend named Cloud, and well, the former is not friendly at all."

"Is that right?" Kadaj inquired, his tone becoming dangerous and deep.

Lea rolled his eyes and answered, "She's telling the truth, even though I've never met Sephiroth or Cloud, since I've only been back home for a year. Besides, I'm in a hurry here. I have to get to my younger adopted sibilings."

As if he just cracked a joke, Kadaj just chuckled, and said casually, "Fine, then let's see who can live the longest." taking out a double katana and wielded it in his left hand. Yazoo took out a knife-gun, and Loz had some sort of device on his left wrist. Lea, Leon and Yuffie tensed, knowing that things are gonna get ugly.

"Yuffie, head back to Merlin's house." Leon ordered.

"Huh?" Yuffie asked in shock, as she wanted to stay and fight.

"Go. We got these guys." Lea instructed as he held out his arms and summoned his Chakrams, glaring at the three men who admittedly were impressed, while Leon took out his gunblade. Yuffie, while hesitating, nodding and then ran off to avoid the silver-haired men.

"Well, those are impressive looking frisbees you got there." Yazoo mocked.

Lea's anger was getting worse, but he held it in, as he corrected, "These are Chakrams, and you're facing a former assasin. Got it memorized?"

The enemies chuckled, as they and Lea and Leon got into fighting stances, as Loz muttered, "This will be fun."

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><p><strong>As the chapter says, Complications start already. What will happen next? Will Lea be able to make it to Roxas and Xion? What are Madem Mim and the Sephiroth Remnants up to? Only time will tell. Look out for the next chapter and continue those great reviews.<strong>


	3. Dark Memories

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Prepare yourselves for some unexpectations, because I haven't thought of the right ideas, and, well, let's continue on, shall we?**

**I don't own anything here.**

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><p><em><strong>CH3: Dark Memories.<br>**_

The last thing Lea recalled as getting his butt kicked by silver-haired weirdos, and when he began to regain consciousness again, he recalled Yazoo approaching him before the redhead blacked out. No matter what he and Leon tried to do, the three men were just too powerful. He also remembered having his weapons knocked away from his hands as he had tried to slash and attack them by surprise, but it ended in the opposite. He had remembered being slumped against the wall of a building in town, so was he feeling something soft and cosiny?

As he blinked his eyes open, at first, he thought he had died(again). But as he regained consciousness, three familiar figures were hovering over him, one with blonde hair, another with black hair, and the third with white hair. Once his vision was clear, Lea jolted up right, startling them and other people in what appeared to be Merlin's house.

"Guys!" Lea gapped as Roxas, Xion and Namine were with him, safe and sound. In the room, were Yuffie, Merlin(who had a bump on his head, the poor guy), Aerith, Tifa, Cid(who had a bandage on his nose, unfortunately), the three annoying faires who were now in human form, Leon(who had a bandage on his upper arm), King Mickey and Sora. Surprisingly, Cloud was there as well, along with a man Lea was unfamiliar with. This person had long black hair, crimson eyes, a red bandana around his head, a black leather suit which was mostly hidden within a seemingly fragile red long cape, which it's collor also hid the man's mouth, a black glove on his right hand, while his left had a clawed golden gaunlet, pointy shoes in the same gold colour, and a gun sheathed on his hip on a belt.

"Lea, you okay?" Roxas asked, clearly worried.

"What happened?" Lea asked in return, "How long was I out?"

"About a day." Xion explained, "King Mickey had arrived with Sora faster than we thought, and Sora managed to get Roxas and I out of the book while Merlin had some sort of wizard's duel against Madem Mim and he won by making her catch a serious cold."

"After those three guys knocked you and Leon out, Cloud came along with this guy to save you." Roxas added, "Those three disappeared ever since."

Taking in the information, Lea sighed, while relieved that his friends were alright and safe, he still felt guilty for not being there for them. "I'm sorry. I wanted to get to you two, but, those creeps knocked me onto a butt and knocked me out cold." he muttered.

"It's not your fault." Cloud said as he approached. "Kadaj and his gang were just too powerful. Even I had trouble in handling them."

"So that's why you had this guy, huh?" Lea figured, glancing at the red-caped man, and inquiring, "Since when did a vampire decide not to eat us?" in a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm not a vampire." Said the man in a deep tone. "My name is Vincent."

"Vincent came from the same world Cloud and Tifa used to live." Sora stated, "You should've seen what he could do. It was so cool!"

'_I'll bet._' Lea thought, before looking at Leon and asked, "Hey, how're you doing?"

"I'll live." Leon replied, "A single scratch isn't the end of the world."

"How about you, Merlin?"

"Oh I'm perfectly fine." said the Wizard, before grumbling, "I just wish Mim would stop being herself and trying to cause harm towards others. What I like to know is how she managed to get here in the first place."

The former Nobody shook his head and said, "Ah, don't be too hard on yourself. At least Mim won't be able to get out of bed anytime soon. It's those three weirdos I'm worried about. What happened to their ma that made them think anyone would have her?"

"They were asking for their mom?" Sora asked, crossing his arms in confused thought.

Mickey muttered, "Hmm, somethin' screwy's goin' on here."

"I think I know who would know." Cloud thought, more to himself than anyone else. However, it did get Tifa's and Vincent's attentions as they and the others glanced up at him. He then stated, "I'm gonna go and find some answers and make sure Kadaj's gang doesn't attack anyone else. I have a feeling that they're related to Sephiroth."

Sora, Roxas, Xion, King Mickey, Namine and Lea all blinked in confusion, and out of all of them, Sora was the only one who knew about Sephiroth, having fought against him a year ago during the Organization's plots.

"In that case, we'll be extra careful, in case they decide to come back." Leon finally decided.

Everyone else thought it was a good idea, while at the same time, Lea promised himself to try and do better to protect his friends, even though they were human and can look after themselves, he was still worried. He loved the three former nobodies, because they were his family now. He supposed he got the worry-streak from his mother. On the other hand, the Winnie the Pooh story book is harmless.

* * *

><p>Two weeks passed since the incident, and Cloud and Vincent, along with Tifa, had returned to their world for investigations for any leads towards Kadaj and his gang, while Sora returned home and Mickey returned to Disney Castle. The Gullwings, having revealed that they were actually cursed and had turned into faires by a witch named Mizerbel a few years back, were happy to be human themselves, and join Cloud and his group for an adventure, much to Yuffie's and Cid's relief.<p>

At this time, Lea and everyone else in Radiant Garden were busy as well, doing business as usual. Roxas and Xion had told him their adventures in the book to help Pooh and his friends to Tigger who wanted to find his own family. The redhead knew how the guy must've felt. At least those three silver-haired guys hadn't borthered to return-yet anyway.

Right now, late at night, as the four of them slept, Lea was struggling in his sleep, as another nightmare came into his mind, but this time, it was a different memory. One that continued to hunt him even when he was Axel.

* * *

><p><em>Axel didn't know why, but he hated coming back here over and over again. Castle Oblivion sure was good name for this maze-like place. It always gave him the creeps, like how Wonderland gave him the heebee jeebees and how he hated the idea of being small in that world. But this was important.<em>

_This was Roxas's first time being here, also the last place he saw Xion. Axel still didn't understand what she had meant they met here before. The only person he met in this place was Sora._

_"So, this is Castle Oblivion..." Roxas thought as he and Axel entered the place. The redhead watched his friend, and, not mere minutes later, the blonde-haired boy began to groan, alarming the older nobody._

_"Roxas!?" Axel gasped, as Roxas began to stumble, holding onto his head. What was going on? Was Roxas sensing Sora? But Sora seemed fine, and as far as Axel could tell, the brown-haired boy was perfectly fine. So why was it effecting Roxas?_

_"Agh! My...my head!" Roxas groaned, though he was stubborn and refused to back down. He wanted to find Xion, and quick._

_"Easy, man!" Axel cried out, as he quickly stood beside his best friend, suggesting, "Let's retreat for now and-"_

_But Roxas, being just as stubborn, replied, "I'm fine! We have to...find Xion..." continuing on a bit, before a sharper, more intensed pain clinged into his skull, causing him to fall onto his knees, and continuing to hold his head in agony. "What's...happening?" he asked._

_Immediatley rushed over, Axel bend onto one knee and held his friend gently, "Roxas!" he exclaimed. Seeing this was terrifying. He was scared. Scared of losing another friend all over again. It's possible that this Castle was more dangerous than he thought. It keeped Namine prisoner until Sora defeated Marluxia. Xion rushed in after one small headache and was fine. It was like a giant maze that would trap anyone who would enter forever, unless you can teleport in and out._

_"So much...rushing into...my head..." Roxas muttered, starting to lose consciousness._

_Unable to handle this any longer, Axel lifted Roxas to his feet and held him close, saying, "Let's get out of here for now!" holding out a hand and summoned a corridor of darkness, and slowly and carefully lead his friend towards their exit, despite the boy's protests._

_By the time Axel found the nearest exit and not liking the idea of returning to the castle straight away, Roxas was unconscious. The redhead layed his friend on the ground to rest near the side street in Twilight Town. Axel found himself breathing scaredly. First Xion collasped a few times, and now this? Despite having no heart, he found himself scared and worried for his younger friends' safeties. It haunted him, almost like a bad dream. What if Roxas remained in coma like last time? Axel wasn't around when it first happened, but he didn't deny that he had wondered if he ever woke up._

_The more he spend time with Roxas and Xion, the more Axel could feel emotions again, or at least, remembered the good old days whne he was a child._

_"Riku!" Roxas suddenly jolted up right, before panting. As if he had a bad dream, he looked up and saw Axel, who, startled by the boy's outburst, was even more worried. His expression clearly showed that he too was scared._

_"Are you alright?" he asked in a extremtely worried tone._

_Blinking, Roxas's reply was, "What...happened to me?"_

_"You collapsed just as you entered the castle doors." Axel explained, before asking, "Don't you remember?" though he was relaxing a little, very relieved that his friend was okay for now. Still, it haunted him, as the image replayed in his own mind._

_"I only remember going inside." Roxas answered, standing up._

_Relieved, Axel suggested, "Just take it easy for now."_

* * *

><p>Snapping his eyes open, Lea sat up in bed, groaning. His heart pounded again. Another haunting memory. He was still scared of that time of what happened to Roxas. Speaking of his friend, he glanced at the sleeping boy who was obviously still in dream land himself. However, the expression told him another story.<p>

"Roxas?" He whispered.

Finding himself worried, the redhead stood up from bed and silently approached Sora's former Nobody who was having an unusual dream.

* * *

><p><em>A boy who isn't Roxas but looks exactly like him lied in bed in his room, thinking as he held a fake wooden Keyblade in his hand, deep in thought. Just then, the school bells rang, getting the boy's attention. Knowing that this meant that something was wrong, the boy immediately jolted up and was about to leave his room to see what's wrong.<em>

_"Better hurry, Ventus." an unfamiliar voice spoke behind him._

_Ventus, the boy's name, stopped and turned around, to see a figure, about his head, but in red and black, and a helmet that hid his head, lean against his desk. Where did he come from?_

_"Huh? Who're you?" Ventus demanded. He already could sense that this guy meant trouble-serious troube. How did he get in? For one thing, this guy is an intruder._

_"Or you'll never see Terra again." The masked-boy added._

_What? What was he on about? "What? Get real. I can see Terra anytime I want." Ventus pointed out. How dare this intruder insult Terra like that? Just because Terra had darkness, doesn't mean that his friend would give in to it easily, because he cared for others more than himself, and Ven knew that, and so did their master and their other friend, Aqua._

_However, the other boy seemed to have make him begin to have doubts. "Like right now? He's leaving you behind. And by the time you catch up... he'll be a different person." said the intruder._

_"Look-whoever you are-you don't know the first thing about Terra. Me and_

_him will always be a team." Ventus stated, before demanding, "You trying to pick a fight or what?" getting into a fighting stance. He would not, under any circumstances, let this guy go free or cause harm to his home. Though Eraqus would still refuse to let him see other worlds, that he knew, no matter what he did, at least if Ventus could catch this guy, it's better than trouble lurking._

_It seemed the intruder was bored, because he stood up right and began to walk across the room, muttering, "Oh, grow up. Is that what you call friendship? You'll never know the truth unless you go out and look for it yourself." he paused, before concluding, "Come on, what could you possibly know when you're stuck here, looking at nothing but what's in your tiny world?"_

_The next thing Ventus knew, the boy disappeared in a portal of darkness, which was a shock. But then again, his thoughts brought him to his memories of the good times he had with Terra, and how the older guy comforts him when he would cry, and they would laugh together._

_Now clearly worried for his friend, Ventus knew what he had to do._

* * *

><p>"Terra!" Roxas exclaimed as he woke up from his nightmare, panting, before looking around and noticed that he was back in his room with Lea, who, once again startled by his friend's outburst, was worried again.<p>

"Whoa, easy, man." Lea began, trying to get over a mini-heart attack. "You just had a nightmare."

"What was that?" Roxas asked, more to himself than to Lea. "There was...this guy who looked exactly like me, and, kinda like Sora."

"Huh?"

The blonde-haired boy looked at his friend, asking, "Axel, wasn't there anyone else you knew before meeting Sora? Like, who had the similiar face like him?"

At first, Lea didn't get an idea what his friend was talking about, but then he remembered when he thought about earlier before Kadaj's group attacked, and admitted, "Well, around twelve years ago, I met this kid who does look and sound exactly like you. It was the time when I was still friends with Isa. I only met the guy briefly, but, his name was Ventus, and he had this toy keyblade."

"Ventus?" Roxas asked, shocked. "I heard the guy's name in my dream too. And this other guy, Terra, about being turned into a different person, and this masked guy saying weird stuff." before another thought came to him and asked again, "You knew about Ventus, didn't you?"

Oh man. Not the accusement again. Lea scratched the back of his head, replying, "Like I said. I didn't know him pretty well. Come to think of it, I honestly only just remembered the guy before Kadaj's gang attacked two weeks ago. When I first thought about it, and how Sora does look like him in the face, and how you look exactly like him, I thought it was just a weird coincidence. I don't even have a clue on who this Terra person is."

"And this happened twelve years ago..." Roxas thought, though he could sense the truth in his friend's voice and see it in the man's eyes. Sighing, he muttering, "Sorry, Lea."

"Nah, it's cool." Lea replied, "I don't think it's anything to worry about."

However, it seemed that he was proven wrong, because in the girls' bed room, Xion's scream was suddenly heard, and, both of the boys were startled at this, and, both worried for their friend, glanced at each other, and immediatley rushed out of their room to see if their friend was alright.

Bursting into the room, they found Xion panting, sitting up-right, tears falling from her eyes, and Namine having gotten to her first, trying to comfort her. Lea and Roxas immediately approached their friends and sat on the edge of Xion's bed, worried.

"Xion! You okay?" Roxas asked, worried the most.

When Xion didn't answer, and tried to control her sobs, Lea asked gently, "What happened?"

Finally having the strength to speak, Xion mumbled, "I-I had a nightmare. It was...a scary old man...he had a Keyblade. He-He took out Roxas's heart, and from the darkness, a masked boy appeared, and-"

"Wait! Did you have a dream about the masked guy too?" Roxas interrupted, shocked.

Seeing her friend's expression, Xion nodded, "Yes."

Lea and Namine both glanced at each other at this, clearly worried. What in the world was going on?

* * *

><p><strong>This...Not good. Sorry to skip battle scenes. As I said many times, I suck at battle scenes, and I wanted to stay true to this story and not add in side-like-stories. If you guys have time, please review or continue your reviews, and I'll see you in the next chapter.<strong>


	4. Namine's Secret

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Just a quick little gossip before we continue on. I have thought about the foretellers, and after seeing the newest scene were the player character having visions of the Five Foretellers, I was shocked that the Organization Coat was there. It makes me think that the coat is the actual one, thus, the sixth but darker foreteller, and that the ones the first Organization XIII, Riku and Xion wore are replicas or something from that.**

**Either way, we'll have to find out next year(unfortunately, ***_Sigh_***) for more information on Kingdom Hearts 3. Let's move on, and I don't own anything here.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH4: Namine's Secret.<strong>_

Feeling tension in the house, Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine agreed to camp out in the living room to ease off the uncomfortable feeling, even though the redheaded man was worried for both of his best friends he knew as Axel. As the two former nobodies of Sora slept, Lea was leaning against the wall, unable to sleep. As it turns out, Namine was in the same vote, because the former Nobody of Kairi was in a chair, glancing down in deep thought. Suddeny his supicions began to ring alarm bells in his head.

"You know something." he muttered. It wasn't a question.

The blonde haired girl shifted uncomfortably, knowing that her older friend was right, and she felt guilty, as memories shifted in her mind.

Lea sighed, and whispered, "Namine. You know Sora better than I do. I admit that I met this guy Ventus when I was a kid, but it's not normal for Roxas and Xion to be dreaming about him, since they used to be part of Sora, so, they should've been having dreams about him, right?" when she didn't reply, he added, "You've seen his memories. Has Sora met Ventus before too? Or is it just a coincidence?"

"It's..." Namine hesitated. She hated feeling so guilty for the things she had done.

"Its?" Lea repeated, getting a little impaitent.

Finally, Namine began to explain, "What Roxas and Xion witnessed...were memories hidden deep within Sora's heart, and yet, they were not his memories."

When Lea gasped softly in shocked confusion, Namine continued, "When I first noticed them while I was bringing back Sora's original memories, I thought I made a mistake."

"But they're not?" Lea inquired, "How does that make sense? If what you found weren't Sora's memories, why were they in his heart in the first place?"

"I thought it was strange too." Namine nodded in agreement, then added, "However, I found proved they belong in his heart, where they've been sleeping a long...long time. One day, Sora will have to call them to the surface. They're important memories...but very dangerous ones. Those memories...include your Nobody's, Lea."

"Axel's too?" Lea asked, even more surprised. "So, we're basically more connected to the kid than we thought, right? Besides that, Axel's me, and I'm him. We're both the same person. So, those memories are my memories too, you know."

He then thought about what else his friend said, and continued, "But, those dangerous memories...just how dangerous are they?"

"These memories are too painful. Handled the wrong way, they could damage Sora's heart-even break it." Namine muttered, then admitted, "I think King Mickey and the others should figure this out soon."

"Figure what out?" Lea asked.

The blonde haired girl looked at him, a bit sheepish, and answered, "I left a message in Jiminy's Journal, the one that I the words erased. _"Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it."_ I'm certain that it'll help them to save those who are lost."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Lea sighed, shaking his head.

"I didn't think it would effect Roxas and Xion. The four of us were also included that Sora needed to rescue from hurt. However, you were the first one to be saved, Lea, because Roxas through Sora cured you."

"And that machine Ansem used which exploded added that to Sora's goal in helping us-me getting my heart back, him, me, and Kairi making the three of you human and having your own hearts, thanks to Kingdom Hearts. So, we're pretty much saved already." Lea summed up, then asked, "But, who else does Sora have to save?"

"One of them...I think it's Ventus." Namine answered.

"That kid?" Lea was even more shocked now. "W-what happened to him?"

"I only know that, sometime after you met him, he lost his heart, but instead of becoming a heartless and creating his own nobody, he remained in comatose sleep. His heart is out there somewhere, still waiting to return to him. I'm not sure how, but he and Sora both share a very strong connection, even though they never met."

This was even more confusing, as far as Lea could tell. "So, Sora's connected to the kid I met, even though they never met? Wow, Sora's more of a chosen one than I thought." He then asked, "Who else needs his help?"

"Two others, he met them, as did Riku." Namine replied, "Though I doubt they'll remember, because Sora and Riku were only small children back then. I can also guess that both of them, and Ventus, they were keys too."

"You mean they were Keyblade wielders too?" Lea asked.

"They were connected to the truth behind the Keyblade. And, they're still connected, somewhere way down deep inside of Sora." was Namine's answer.

"Well, then." Lea began, "How 'bout tomorrow we pay those three guys at the castle a visit, and you can tell them what you know to save them trouble to figure it out themselves."

Namine shook her head, stating, "It's not that simple. In order for Sora to do this, he needs to to find a way to face that kind of hurt. They can figure this out, however, it'll have side effects to the journal."

"What kind of side effects?"

"I've added, "Hurt", and, well, digitalizing a journal is not that hard. However, it can cause data to become a mess. Let's just say, that bugs are their opponents to understand hurt."

Hearing this made Lea grumbled softly, then looked at his young friend, and muttered, "You are in serious trouble when they figure this out, young lady." before mentally smacking himself for having sounded like his parents.

"I'm sorry." Namine sighed, "I wanted to tell Mickey in person, but I didn't think that I would be around anymore, since-"

"Since you were Kairi's Nobody, you thought you had to disappear to make her whole again, to make things more complicated." Lea summed up, finishing her sentence.

When he noticed that the young teenaged girl looked like she was about to cry, Lea shook his head and muttered, "Hey, no crying. It wasn't your fault that you-know-who made you go and mess up Sora's memories in the first place. We all messed up, remember?"

Namine didn't say anything, so Lea continued, "Besides, if anyone's to blame for this whole mess, it's Xehanort." before admitting, "What I'm curious about, is who that masked guy is, and who that old man Xion saw in her nightmares is, and why are they part of the problem."

"It doesn't make sense to me either." Namine admitted, "I don't even know about the fate of one of them, as he disappeared after a great battle. Those memories are unclear, especially with the one who Xion saw."

Neither of them spoke. However, after a moment, a memory came into Lea's mind, one from a year ago, before he got his heart back, when he was still Axel.

_"Kingdom Hearts was really meant to prevent us from getting our hearts back. We all were to become one single person in thirteen bodies...Even our minds were doomed to disappear."_

_"That doesn't make sense." Axel shook his head. "You can't just turn thirteen people into one single person. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and believe me, this is really starting to become a pain in the butt."_

_Xigbar just laughed as he is almost vanished. "With Xehanort...anything is possible." and with that, he was gone, and Axel's grip ended up closing in empty air._

His eyes widened as he realised something. Nodding, Lea looked at Namine and said, "Tomorrow frist thing in the morning, we're gonna go and sneak into the castle and use that computer to search for some answers."

"Huh?" Namine asked, puzzled.

"I just remembered that Xigbar knew Xehanort longer than the rest of us. When he was Braig, he used to be a guard for Ansem here in Radiant Garden. There has to be a connection, and I have a feeling, it's in the place where it all began." Lea explained. '_It's also the place where I lost Isa._' He added to himself, but didn't voice it.

"Lea...You're not angry?" Namine asked, a bit uncertainly.

Hearing this, Lea thought about it, then smiled and replied, "Angry? Why would I be angry for something that you were afraid of? Okay, so I'm not happy that you didn't tell us sooner, but at the same time, I can't really blame you. Plus, we all needed a break, so, I say that it's time to figure things out, and then we'll finally be free."

Despite still feeling a bit guilty, Namine nodded, and mumbled, "Thank you, Lea. You're sweet."

Lea's face began almost as red as his hair, as he looked away, ruffling at his hair. "Aw, c'mon. It's nothing. J-just stop, okay? It's embarrassing." though his face began even more red as Namine began to giggle.

If the redhead didn't know any better, he and Sora did have a lot in common, especially when it comes to both battles and, well, girls.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, as it turns out, Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy already figured this out via Jiminy's journal through the Data-Scape, and learned so much about Sora's connections with those who needed his rescue. Mickey decided to ask Namine-the real one-later about the situation, and instead, travelled back to his second home of Mysterious Tower where Yen Sid lived to reveal him what he discovered, and that another knowlage he learned.<p>

After a pause, Mickey added, "I think we're finally close to figuring out where Ven's heart is."

"Is that so?" Yen Sid inquired. At his former apprentince's confirmed nod, the Sorcerer then states, "Then that leaves only Terra." as for twelve years, he had been trying to figure out the whereabouts of the three lost Keyblade wielders. So far, finding out where Aqua is wasn't that hard, though getting her out was near impossible. Next is Ven's heart, as the boy's body is still missing, and only Aqua knows. Then there's Terra, who, after the great battle against Xehanort, vanished into thin air.

"Right." Mickey agreed, "And we've gotta save all three of 'em."

As Yen Sid strokes his beard, deep in thought, he couldn't help but inquire, "The question is: What does Xehanort intend to do next?"

That caught Mickey by surprise, as he pointed out, "Xehanort? But his two halves are gone. I mean, so far, Lea's the only one who managed to get his heart back even when he was still Axel. Besides, there was Ansem, who commanded the Heartless, and Xemnas, who commanded the Nobodies." before asking, "Didn't Sora defeat them both?"

"Correct, those two met their end. However, therein lies exactly our problem. Their destruction now guarantees the original Xehanort's reconstruction. In Lea's case, his reconstruction was carried out faster than normal, due to Sora and Roxas's desire to keep him alive, and the device Ansem the Wise used, as you know." Yen Sid stated.

At Mickey's confusion, the powerful Sorcerer continued, "Xehanort's heart, once seized by his Heartless half, is now free. And his body, which had become his Nobody, has been vanquished. Both halves will now be returned to the whole. In short...this means Master Xehanort will return."

"And you think..." Mickey paused, feeling scared but kept a firm expression as he had been taught, continuing his question, "You think that maybe he's gonna try something?"

"A man like Xehanort will have left many roads open." Yen Sid answered, knowing Xehanort all too well.

Despite his fears, Mickey knew what to do. "Well, it doesn't matter what he cooks up. Me and Sora, we'll be ready, and Riku, too! Maybe even Roxas and Xion!"

"Yes, they are indeed strong. But...not true Keyblade Masters, like you. In Roxas and Xion's cases, I fear they are not ready for what's yet to come, as Sora as experinced more." Yen Sid replied, before inquiring his own fears, "Tell me...would a single one of you suffice if what you faced was not a single one of him?"

Hearing this made Mickey lose his calm, and he leaped up and held onto the edge of the desk, demanding in shock, "What!? What do you mean!?" was there something that he missed out? Not a single one of Xehanort? How could there be more Xehanorts? Was like the Remnants of Sephiroth, according to Cloud Strife and another man named Rufus ShinRa a week back?

Instead of answering, Yen Sid requested, "Mickey, please summon Sora hither. Riku as well." as he stands up, knowing that the time has come.

Confused, Mickey replied, "Of course, but, why?"

"To show us the Mark of Mastery." was Yen Sid's answer.

The young King's eyes widened even further, as he muttered, "The-the exam?" before letting go of the desk and stood on the ground again. Mickey then asked, worriedly, "Are Sora and Riku ready for that?" as he knew about the Exam. Twelve years ago, Mickey himself took the exam, and had been worried that he'd fail, but ended up passing with flying colours. Then there was Aqua, who hadn't been a master for long, and she's now trapped within the Realm of Darkness. Then there's Terra who failed due to the darkness in his heart, and that's when things got seriously bad. Mickey had dreaded the day that Sora and Riku would do the exam as well, but he didn't think it would be this soon. They were both still in their teens. Aqua and Terra were like close to their twenties!

"More ready than Roxas and Xion." Yen Sid answered, "And I doubt there are any others."

When Mickey remained silent, Yen Sid muttered, "I understand your worries, Mickey. I do not wish for this to happen too soon either. However, it is our best option for now."

"I see." Mickey sighed. He was worried. He didn't to lose Sora or Riku in the similiar way Aqua, Ven and Terra were lost.

* * *

><p>In a small resort building in the mountains of another world, in a small restor town of Healen, with a great thud, a tall man named Rude collasped painfully on the hard wooden floor, so much in agony, that he was painfully struggling to get up. Near by, was his friend, who looked strongly identical to Lea, but with shorter red spiky hair on the top, but long at the bottom, tied up in a ponytail, named Reno, was on his side, also in agony. Reno couldn't even move, as he felt as if he'd been sliced by a knife.<p>

Both of the men were Turks, members of the elite group of ShinRa, and they were partners and best friends. They were just defeated by a young man with silver hair, golden eyes and wearing an Organization Coat, no older than 18 years old. He casually walked by the two defeated men, as he muttered to Rufus ShinRa, who was on a wheel chair, covered in a white sheet, the only things visible were his mouth and his right infected hand.

"Now I know how Kadaj felt about liars." said the youth.

"I apologuise." said Rufus. "This time you get the truth; The object you and Kadaj seek feel from the helicopter while we were running from all of you. I'm afraid we were careless."

The youth snorted, "Oh really?" sounding as if to say, '_Liar_'.

Despite that he was actually lying again, Rufus had taught himself to sound convincing through out since his childhood. So, he replied, "I swear it."

Still a bit skeptically, the youth decided to believe him, and said, "Fair enough. Then you can have these back." turning and then threw two ID cards onto the floor, one which had a picture of a young woman with blonde hair named Elena, and the other having a picture of a man in his early thirties named Tseng who was the director of the Turks. Both cards were covered in blood.

"Why did Kadaj do this? What is is that you want?" Rufus demanded in a dangerous and angered tone.

"I only know that Kadaj needs Jenova's cells to become 'complete' once more." The youth began, "As for me-I seek what my elder-self wants."

"Elder-self?" Rufus questioned. This didn't sound good. He knew that his father was crazy, and that Hojo was just an insane, seniled and heartless fool, but this youth sounded like he wasn't even human at all, not more human than the late Sephiroth or even Kadaj's group.

"Yes." The youth smirked, "To gather as many vessels as possibles, to seek the answer of the greatest secret of all time."

As the youth was saying this, Reno, by this time, had managed to roll onto his back, but still painfully couldn't move, and continued to struggle in staying awake, while Rude tried to ease away his own agonizing pain, but with zero results.

"So far, he and I are the first, but, you know. I still have a job to do to gather the other eleven vessels." The Youth continued.

"Then that means you need only thirteen." Rufus realized. He recalled that Hojo tried to create Sephiroth clones, and as far as he could tell, there were twelve of them, but all died out.

The Youth nods, "Only thirteen, because it is what is needed. I do not understand what for yet, but perhaps, it could be that of rumors of seven lights against thirteen darknesses coming together. What I need, is the whereabouts of Hojo."

"Hojo is dead." Rufus stated, this time, truthfully. "He attempted to destroy the world by having Sephiroth summon Meteor and using Jenova cells, all for the _"Jenova Reunion"_."

"Then perhaps it's somewhat related." The youth stated, "But, you're wrong. Hojo is alive, and I will find him, no matter what. Some people refuse to die, until their goals are accomplished, or say, they are too stubborn to die. I believe you make a good example, Mr. President."

Rufus managed to hold in the urge to groan in annoyance. Still, he wasn't liking this one single bit. He had no idea what Kadaj's goal is, and he didn't understand this young man's goal either. But whatever it was, he had a feeling that maybe it wasn't much different as Hojo's goal.

"I will return soon. Don't expect me not to return." the Youth finally said, as he then walked away and left the building, and the world, leaving Rufus troubled in his thoughts, and Rude and Reno lying on the ground, still in agony.

* * *

><p><strong>Now things are not looking too good. What will become of our heroes? What do the villians want? Only time will tell, as more unexpected surprises are revealled in the next chapter.<strong>

**I have always figured that Hojo and Xehanort were both similiar, and I have a theory on maybe the idea from FFVII is the main reason why most of the Final Fantasy characters are from VII, and that the only FF villian in the Kingdom Hearts series so far is Sephiroth. I mean, Hojo tried to create twelve Sephiroth clones, and Xehanort wants twelve clones of himself.**

**Do you like this chapter so far? Please review to answer. I'd like that.**


	5. The Castle were it Began and Begins

**Second Life**

**Author's note: About what I said about the clones in the last chapter, I meant like in Final Fantasy VII, Hojo tried to create clones, and tried to make clones of Sephiroth out of Zack and Cloud by placing his cells into their bodies, thus, the crazy and evil Scientest expecting Sephiroth to over-take them. **

**In Kingdom Hearts series, Xehanort wanted to place a piece of his heart into twelve people, taking over their bodies and slowly destroying their hearts. **

**In both universes, both old men just want to destroy everything and have everything in darkness and death forever. Both of them are designed by Tetsuya Nomura who worked on both the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII and the Kingdom Hearts series. **

**This is what I mean on why Kingdom Hearts is closely loosed-based on FFVII and most FF characters are from VII(even though it's closely numbered with FFX and FFVIII), and how Sora, Ventus and Roxas are closely resembled to Cloud, while Axel/Lea is based on Reno(and that both redheads share the same voice actors in both versions), Cloud making the most appearence in KH, and Sephiroth is the only FF villian to be fought in Kingdom Hearts(Seifer doesn't count, because he's just stuck up to himself).**

**Plus, VII is the only FF gaming series(other than Agito to Type-0, but they're not part of the main series) that has two prequals(Crisis Core and Before Crisis).**

**Whoa, that's the longest note I've ever wrote. Oookay...now that's cleared up, let's continue on. I still don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

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><p><em><strong>CH5: The Castle were it Began and Begins.<strong>_

_**Twentythree years ago...**_

_"Help!" Screamed a nine year old Isa who got stuck on a tree branch between a ledge. He and Lea were camping and were exploring the woods. Now he was stuck, trying not to fall._

_Nine year old Lea, who heard his friend's cry for help, came back for him and from his side of the ledge, he couldn't help but shake his head. "It's okay, Isa. Just jump." he encouraged._

_"So I can kill myself?" Isa grumbled in sarcasm._

_Lea held out his hand, and said, "I ain't goin' anywhere without you. Just try it, okay?"_

_Unknown to the two boys, a wolf, who was practically starving and almost as thin as a stick, was following them so he could eat them. So far, he had no luck, but his hunger was driving him to keep going._

_Sighing and gulping, Isa braced himself to lose his life, and jumped as far and high as he could, and immediately Lea grabbed hold of his friend's hand before Isa could fall, and pulled him onto the other side, safely. The redhead grinned, saying, "See? Told ya you could do it."_

_"I guess I'm no good in highest." Isa sighed._

_"Ah, don't sweat it." Lea smirked. "A few practices, and you'll be invisable." before leading the way for more fun._

_Isa, not wanting to be left behind, immediately followed, while the wolf tried to catch him, but ended up onto the same branch hanging up high on a cliff-hanger(no puns), and hanged on for dear life, whimpering with only his front legs holding on._

_Meanwhile, Lea found a steep hill, and, being a troublemaker and seeking for some fun, began to slide down like on a skateboard, and even skiied on the small rivine to the other side, much to his surprise. "Dude! That was better than I thought!" Lea exclaimed happily, laughing._

_Isa followed, and ended up crashing into Lea who was too late to get out of the way. Both boys layed on the ground, with Isa on top of Lea, and, blushing in embarrassment, both got up quickly. Instead of being angry, Lea and Isa just laughed._

_"Wow, only three years of knowing you, and since day one, hanging with you keeps on getting more fun every day." Isa commented with a smile._

_Lea grinned with a shrug, "What can I say? I'm a fun kind of guy." before going up another steeper and a bit more dangerous hill, with Isa, a bit nervous at this hill, followed. Behind them, the wolf, who had managed to get himself out of the branch problem, was panickly sliding down the opposite hill like a rocky slide, and into the surprisingly deeper river and continued to slide underwater and banged head first against a large rock._

_"By the way," Lea began again, climbing over a dangerously leaning rock which tilted at his weight, "What are you and ma and dad doing for christmas this year?"_

_"Nothing much." Isa replied, climbing over the same rock, and while he was safe and continued the follow Lea, the rock lost it's balance and rolled down._

_Both boys continued to talk, while the wolf, dripping and soaking wet, panted as he began to climb up. But at the sight of the rock coming straight towards him, freaked out and ran back down and landed back in the water for safety. The Rock flew over him and landed into the deeper part of the river. Once safe, he looked back up, and now getting impaitent and seeing his targets, tried again._

_Once Lea and Isa were on top, they got a good view of the sun-set. "You and your parents can come over if ya like." Lea offered._

_"Your parents won't mind?" Isa asked._

_"My christmas is always boring, anyway, apart from getting really good presents." Lea said, then smiled and added, "But this year, I wanna have christmas with you."_

_Isa was surprised by this. "Why's that?"_

_"Because you're my best friend." was Lea's answer._

_The blue-haired boy smiled, and replied, "Thanks Lea." then noticed how low the sun was getting, and stated, "We'd better head back to camp. It's getting late."_

_Lea noticed the same thing, and nodded, "Yeah. Let's go." and quickly went to slide down again, with Isa behind him, just as the Wolf, in sheer exhaustion and hyperlating, panted and wheezed slowly and heavily, his touge sticking out, in a verge of collaspe. He looked down, and looked again, and, to his horror, his meals were getting away, back to where they came from, again!_

_Finally overcome by exhaustion, the wolf blew through his lips comically and also comically fainted._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Back in the Present.<strong>_

Why does Lea keep remembering his childhood memories at the worst times? Probably because he never felt the feeling of being homesick. No, it's more of a case of he misses Isa so much, he realises. Xehanort was the one who changed him when Isa turned into Saix, and Lea was Axel, yet the redhead was pretty much the same.

As he, Roxas, Xion and Namine(who all got on their old Organization coats, and had gotten one for Namine) were making their way towards the castle the next day, and Lea and Namine told the other two about what was going on, the redhead paused, feeling the strong pang of missing his childhood friend, and also suddenly finding himself struggling to breathe. The guilt was getting stronger. Feeling lightheaded, Lea stumbled towards the large wall on the pathway up to the castle, leaning onto his left arm, while covering his face with his right hand, trying to hold in the verge of breaking down.

"Lea!" Roxas, Xion and Namine cried out in alarm, as they noticed their older friend in his state, and rushed over towards him.

"Are you alright?" Roxas asked worriedly, while Lea concentrated on his breathing.

'_Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. That's it, Lea. You can do it._' He thought to himself. He knew he had to calm down. It was already too late to save Isa now, and Lea had to cope with it.

"Lea?" Xion asked softly.

Somewhat calmed down, Lea sighed, removing his hand from his face, and caught sight of his younger friend's worried expressions. He smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you guys."

"What happened?" Namine asked.

The redhead shrugged, muttering, "Just good memories reminding me how bad things got later on. Got it memorized?" tapping the side of his head while saying his catch phrase.

Seeing how Lea didn't want to talk about it, the three teens just left it. With that, the four of them continued on towards their destination without being seen. They didn't want to get into trouble and get caught by Leon and the others. This was very important. Finally arriving, they headed through the back door and Lea, trusting in his memories, lead Roxas, Xion and Namine through the halls, while trying not to remember about what happende eleven years ago.

"Ansem's computer should be here." Lea whispered once they finally made it to the right door.

"Right." Roxas nodded in agreement. "Sora, Donald and Goofy came here to find out about the Organization a year ago." since he witnessed the entire thing within Sora's heart, as did Xion who also nodded in agreement.

"I think the computer also leads to where Tron is." Xion added.

Lea quirked an eyebrow, asking, "Tron? You mean that living computer program that made friends with those guys?" as he still didn't believe in computers coming to life. But then again, as Ansem once said, '_A heart is so much more than any system_', which Mickey repeated after Xemnas was defeated.

At his friends' nods, the redhead shrugged, and opened the door, and into the familiar room of the late Ansem the Wise. The room was a complete mess, books scattered on the floor, broken glass. However, Lea's eyes trailled onto the a giant portrait of the man he hated the most, the one who ruined everything.

Roxas seemed to echo his hate, because the blonde-haired boy muttered softly, "Xehanort."

The four walked up to the picture, and Lea glared at the man who is gone. "If I find out that he's gonna come back, I'll send him straight to the underworld myself." he muttered.

"Hades will have a field day with Xehanort." Xion thought, then shuddered and muttered, "On the other hand, he made actually bring Xehanort back to stop Hercules."

Hearing this made Lea, Roxas and Namine glance at her in horror at the horrible idea. The young black-haired girl shrugged sheepishly and said, "Sorry."

"That's it." Lea softly scolded, "No more scary movies for you."

"Aren't you the one who introduced the horror movies to us, Axel?" Roxas reminded.

Realising what his friend meant, Lea pouted, "Hey!" before the group broke into a chuckle, before they heard a thump, making them stop and suddenly look around for the source. Their eyes turned to the secret door, and found it was open. Alarm bells rang in Lea's eyes, as his eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. Had someone gotten here before them?

Turning to his friends, Lea pressed his extended finger to his lips and said, "Shh." then whispered, "Wait here. I'll check the room out."

"I'm going with you." Roxas declared in a whisper, and quickly added before Lea could protest, "Just in case."

Seeing that the boy won't take no for an answer, Lea sighed, and looked at Xion and Namine, saying, "If anything happens, hide somewhere and wait. Alright?"

The two teenaged girls nodded, and Xion whispered, "Be careful, both of you."

Roxas and Lea promised that they will, and silently headed towards the computer room, as they then heard voices, one of them being familiar. Their eyes widened as they glanced at each other. They knew that voice. It belonged to someone they used to know. But that couldn't be, could it? Suddenly, Lea was feeling deja-vu, except that this time, it was a bit different.

Not wanting to make the same mistake as he had all those years ago when he was a child, Lea pressed his back against the wall, and slid closer to the door of the room as slowly and silently as possible. Roxas mimicked his movements, also being silent, until they stopped near the doorway, the voice now clearer, and their eyes widened as they realised that they were right; crud, they were right, and both wished that they weren't.

"So, which one of these cadets should I take with me?" the familiar cockey and sinister voice inquired.

Lea risked taking a peak into the room, and his stomach turned on the one who spoke.

Braig.

'_But how?_' Lea thought to himself. '_I thought once someone becomes a heartless and creates their nobody, it's the end of them for good._' His eyes also trailled onto an unfamiliar youth, silver hair which reminded him of Xehanort, but much, much younger, probably about eighteen years old, in the same black coat Lea and Roxas were currently wearing at the moment. Braig was back in his guard uniform he wore back evelen years ago.

However, another sight almost caused him to gasp. Lying on the floor, were five other familiar figures. Two guards, two scientests, and...it couldn't be. But there was no mistaking of it. The same blue hair, the build, and the black coat. All five of them were unconscious, but if Braig was awake, that meant that the rest of them were alive.

Alive and returned.

The Youth smirked, and says, "I won't stop you. Anyone of them would be fine." though he admitted, "But I don't think having two large brutes or two science freaks would be a good idea."

"C'mon, you'll be thinking different when you reach your older-self's age. If you know what I mean." Braig grinned, "I mean, seriously. Even's the one who helped out in what's happening in the first place. Though I agree with you that he's totally useless. Ienzo would say no in a heart beat 'cuz he hates me. Aeleus and Dilan would slice my head off since I'm a traitor."

'_No..._' Lea somehow knew what this meant. While he had no idea on what's going on, for one thing, the blue-haired unconscious man was in danger-death danger.

His fears were confirmed, as Braig turned around, his eyes set on the last man, saying, "So this leaves Mr. Sourpuss. He did as what Xemnas told him to do, and he ridiculously wanted his heart so bad that he was already doomed to become a vessel."

The youth approached Braig, taking a look at the blue-haired man and inquired, "Are you sure he's the perfect cadet?"

"One little piece of your future-self's heart won't hurt the body, but it'll eat up the heart." Braig laughed.

That's it. Lea's heard enough. He didn't know if it was who he thought it was, but he wasn't going to let this happen. Sensing this, Roxas followed Lea's lead, as both of them immediately rushed into the room, Lea summoned his chakrams and threw them straight at his two targets who turned around and, in alarm, jumped out of the way just in time, as Lea and Roxas, who summoned his Oblivion Keyblade, rushed over and slashed at the youth and Braig who both leaped away again, and jumped right near the large computer portal that leads to Tron's world, while Lea and Roxas stood protectively in front of the unconscious blue-haired man.

"What!?" Braig gasped in disbelief and shock at seeing Lea and Roxas right there! "Axel and Roxas!?"

"My name is Lea, and only my friends can call me Axel." Lea retorted, "Got it memorized?"

The one-eyed man just couldn't believe what he was seeing. "What guys aren't supposed to be here!"

"Surprise?" Roxas taunted, "You leave these guys alone!" pointing his Keyblade threatenly at the two enemies who glared at him and Lea back.

Braig scowled, and was about to summon his weapons, but the youth held out his arm to stop him, and muttered, "Leave them. It's obvious that we are wasting time." before he smirked and his golden eyes glittered, "Besides, I think someone else can serve as good vessels, since they're busy looking for their 'mother', and I know where Hojo is."

"Ugh, fine." Grumbled the older man, before he turned to Lea and Roxas, and said, "Consider you and your friends lucky, Flamsilocks. But so you know, the end is coming." before the Youth summoned a corridor of darkness and both of them walked into it, vanishing as the portal disappeared, leaving Roxas and Lea alone with the unconscious men.

"Who was that guy?" Roxas asked, referring to the silver-haired youth, as he de-summoned his Keyblade.

Lea shook his head, "I don't know. Though I'm getting a bad feeling about this." he muttered, before he turned his attention to the blue-haired man, and turned him around to cradle him in his arms. Lea's eyes widened as he realised that he was about who this guy is.

The scar that marked an "X" was gone, and the pointy ears had returned to normal shaped ears. Lea gently trailed his fingers onto the man's face, caressing him. He couldn't believe that, against all odds, suddenly things were becoming alright.

"Lea?" Roxas asked, before turned to see the unconscious man, and became nervous. But he didn't need to be very nervous, as his red-haired friend muttered the one name that Lea had so longed to spoke off once more.

"Isa."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry that this chapter is short, and sorry about the grammer mistakes. I'll try to make future chapters longer. By the way, has anyone ever thought about on why Xehanort would want to make a woman's body one of his vessels? Doesn't that seem weird to have a man's heart literally inside a woman's body?<strong>

**In any case, the original Organization is back, and thanks to Sora and Roxas, Lea was able to save his childhood friend earlier than in the original universe!**

**Oh, and that wolf scene in the flash-back? He's the Wolf from the movie "The Sword in the Stone" and the memory is based on one of my favorite scenes.**

**Please review!**


	6. The Return

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Hi, guys! I'm so glad that you're all relieved to see Isa return. Truth is, I wanted to bring him back, and I knew that his Nobody was under influence of Xehanort in the first place. So, there you go. And thank you for your support, Kat. I'm not really a great writer, but I do my best. I'm happy that you like my stories so far.**

**Anyway, we shall continue on. Note that I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Both rights belong to Disney(they own half of Kingdom Hearts), and Square Enix(They own the second half of Kingdom Hearts and full rights to Final Fantasy).**

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><p><em><strong>CH6: The Return.<strong>_

_He had no idea how long he's been like this. All Saix to remember was the last time he'd seen Axel, who told him about Xemnas' true angenda before killing him, to save him from being a part of Xehanort or something. He'd seen his former friend grieve and cry over his death, the guilt and regret. For that moment, he remembered all of his memories of before he became who he is now._

_As Axel said, Saix did change. It's because of what Xehanort had done that their friendship crumbled into nothing._

_"_Isa! Don't leave me! It's all my fault!_" Lea's sorrowed words echoed._

_'_I wish we...never became Nobodies_.' Saix thought in his mind. However, he accepted his punishment, and continued to float and sink into the darkness, allowing it to consume him, swallow him, erase his very existance._

_He keeps on hearing Lea's pleas, "_Don't leave me._" but Saix-Isa knew, there was no choice. He had accept this. He would fade away forever. He didn't know what would become of him, but he would fade into nothing, until he would cease to exist._

_"_It's not your time, my friend._" An unfamiliar voice spoke._

_Snapping his eyes open, Saix jolted up, demanding, "Who's there!?" looking around as he continued to float in the darkness. In front of him, was a glowing object, and from what he could tell, his eyes widened as it took form of a familiar blue-haired boy, one who is the spitting image of him. Saix realised what this means._

_It was his heart._

_Behind the heart, was an unfamiliar man, with ginger-red hair, a red leather coat with a crimson sword, and had a single black wing on his back, just like Sephiroth, except that his wing was a left wing instead of the right. He also had blue eyes._

_"Who are you?" Saix asked._

_The man, Genesis, smirked, and said, "_Your childhood friend deeply misses you. He wishes to set things right with the both of you, to return you to life._"_

_'_Lea?_' Saix thought, then he said, "I no longer belong in the Realm of Light."_

_"_You're wrong. It's Xehanort and Chaos who don't belong in the Realm of Light. They don't belong anywhere. But you, Isa, have a friend to return to. He never replaced you-he knew that you were trapped here, while your body acted as an early example of Xehanort's goal, which is no different compared to those who used me and my own childhood friends. You still have a chance, Isa. Do not let this chance go to waste._" Genesis pointed out and explained._

_Before he knew it, Saix was suddenly merged with his heart, his consciousness fading, and replaced by his original-self's. The last thing he saw before he slipped away into light, was Genesis's figure, before his world was out._

* * *

><p>As Lea continued to cradle Isa's unconscious body, just a few seconds ago, muttering his friend's name, he and Roxas then turned to see that the other former members of the Organization, were all awakening. At least, two of them were.<p>

And Lea recongised all of them.

"...Dilan...Even...Aeleus...Ienzo." The redhead muttered.

Roxas glanced at his friend and asked, "I thought they were Xaldin, Vexen, Lexeaus and Zexion?"

"Xaldin is Dilan, Vexen is Even, Lexeaus is Aeleus and Zexion is Ienzo." Lea explained, "Xehanort re-diagrammed our names with X when we become Nobodies, like he did with you, Rox. Sora-Roxas. Got it memorized?" Lea explained.

"Oh, right." Roxas sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, having forgotten that detail.

While Aeleus stood up, groggily tried to stay up-right, and was slightly disoriented, another groan caught Lea and Roxas' attention's, as they turned back to Isa, who's eye-lids were beginning to flicker open. Hope started to swell up inside Lea's heart.

"Isa?" He asked, gently shaking him to help his former best friend awake.

Coming out of semi-coma, the first thing Isa managed to mutter was, "Where...what happened to me?"

"Take it easy, man." Lea suggested.

Hearing the familiar voice, Isa's eyes finally opened, and Lea almost choaked in relief. His friend's eyes had finally returned to their true natual colour-green-ish blue, and no longer the cold amber. Isa's eyes shifted to take in the sight of his red-haired friend who was holding him, and looked as if he was gonna cry.

"...Lea?" Isa muttered.

It was almost too good to be true. Lea would've believed this was all just a dream, but fortunately it wasn't. Bringing Isa into an embrace, Lea choaked, unable to hold back any longer. "You're back...Kingdom Hearts, you're back, Isa!" he muffled.

Isa was surprised at this. He was expecting to get hit and slapped or whatever by his former friend. He didn't expect...this. But then again, Lea was always unpredictable. He was also surprised that his friend was made human again as well.

Roxas watched on, relieved that Lea has gotten his childhood friend back, while nervous to see Isa again, as he remembered that, as Saix, is disapproved Roxas's skills back in the Organization.

Calming down, Lea looks at Isa who felt awkward. "Lea...what happened?" Isa eventually answered.

"I'm not sure, man." Lea replied, "But you're home, and that's all that matters."

"Home?" Isa asked, before taking in his surroundings, and recongised it as the Computer room, realising what his friend meant. "This is...Radient Garden." he muttered.

He looked at Lea who nodded to comfirm it, with a relieved smile. "Welcome home." the redhead whispered. He then stood up, and helped Isa up as well.

The blue-haired man stumbled a bit, but Lea kept him steady, until Isa found that he can stand on his own, and both men let go of each other, while Roxas went to help Ienzo up, the second youngest man thanked the teenaged boy. Isa glanced behind Lea and his eyes widened at the sight of Roxas who also noticed. In fact, Aeleus was stunned as well, but Ienzo didn't seem too surprised.

"Roxas?" Isa and Aeleus both muttered in confusion.

"Uh, hi?" Roxas replied nervously.

Isa turned to Lea who answered, "Long story. I guess you can say that Sora, Kairi and Ansem the Wise had to do with what's happened to me, Roxas and two great girls."

"Girls? What girls?" Isa asked.

As if on cue, Namine and Xion, who both had been worried and decided to investigate the room, had came in and both of them stood, shocked and surprised to see who had returned. Isa, Aeleus and even Ienzo were stunned to see and remember Namine and Xion.

"How is this possible?" Aeleus asked, stunned.

Roxas took notice that like Isa, Aeleus was different compared to their nobody counterparts, and he replied, "Like Lea said-long story."

"How long has it been since the four of you were here?" Isa asked.

"A year." Lea replied, nervously scratching his head within his hair. "It's been eleven years since the six of us were last in this room."

"I thought were was seven." Aeleus inquired, as Xion and Namine both nervously stood next to Roxas who assured them that it was alright, before the largest man looked around and asked, "Where's Braig?"

Lea and Roxas both sighed, before the former answered, "He ditched and left with some silver-haired kid who can use the power of darkness. I think it's safe to say that o'l-one-eyed-weirdo betrayed everyone since the beginning. He woke up first when Roxas, Xion, Namine and I just got here to investigate. Turns out it was good idea to come here."

"I have to agree." Ienzo admitted, "I've never liked Braig to begin with, to be honest."

"Who does?" Lea joked.

"First things first," the young scientest stated, gazing at Even and Dilan's unconscious forms, "We must tend to these two. I doubt that they're already returning to normal like most of us."

Aeleus didn't waste time as he went to pick up his partner(Dilan) and heaved him up to carry him to a place to rest. Roxas and Xion helped Ienzo drag Even and followed Aeleus, and Namine voulenteered to cure them in needed be, leaving Lea and Isa on their own.

Both men were silent, until Isa inquired, "Lea."

"Hm?" Lea turned to face his friend again.

"Do you know where Braig might be?"

The redhead shrugged cluelessly, and muttered, "Not a clue." before admitting, "While you were out cold, he...wanted to escape and take you away."

"Me!?" Isa gapped in shock. "Why?"

"I don't know." Lea shook his head, "But I have a feeling it's to do with Xehanort. Roxas and I came to this room when we heard Braig's voice, and he said something about placing that silver-haired kid's heart or whatever inside you. The two of us managed to block them and save you, but they got away."

"A piece of someone else's heart." Isa thought deeply. "What could that mean?"

"Who knows? Whatever it is, it ain't good news." Lea stated, then realised something and said worriedly, "But if we managed to come back, and if Braig's up to no good, then that means-"

"Xehanort will return?" Isa finished, and at Lea's nod, the blue-haired man replied, "I was beginning to think that myself."

"With Xehanort, anything's possible." Lea repeated Xigbar's last words again. "What the hell was that crazy guy up to?"

Both of them were once again silent, before Lea noticed Isa's somber expression and asked, "You okay?" getting worried.

Isa looked at him and asked, "How can I be? I ruined our friendship-"

"Don't." Lea held up his hand to gently silence him. "Just don't. Okay, so we didn't do so well for the past ten years, but it's all Xehanort's fault that he made us heartless and nobodies in the first place." before looking down and corrected himself, "Then again...I'm the one who accidently led us to that doom in the first place."

He dared himself to look at his childhood friend again, and muttered, "I'm sorry."

"You're right." Isa nodded, "It was Xehanort's fault. If he didn't exist, none of this would've happened. Lea, I forgive you."

"Really?" Lea asked, and when his friend nodded again, the redhead gave an awkward smile and replied, "I forgive you too, even though you were a pain as a Nobody."

"I can't deny that fact." Isa chuckled. "But you have to admit, I wasn't half as bad as Larxene was."

Lea laughed, then clapped a hand onto his friend's shoulder and said, "There's the Isa I know, one that I missed."

The bluehead had to admit, he missed being his oldself as well, as he smiled and shared a chuckle with his childhood friend. It felt good to be back home. While his parents are most likely dead, at least he still has Lea.

"C'mon. I don't think the situation's over yet." Lea suggested.

"Right." Isa nodded, before asking, "Lea?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. I never thought I'd see you again, after all I've done." Isa admitted.

Lea understood, and replied, "I'm really happy to have you back. I seriously missed you, ya know? Every night, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I kept on having nightmares of our deaths, and I wake up..." he paused, then added sheepishly, "I wake up and end up crying."

The two friends smiled, before they, together, walked out of the room and rejoined the others. Roxas, Namine and Xion had just returned to the room while Aeleus and Ienzo were cleaning up the room, now that they all had their hearts back. Lea looked around as did Isa, and while the man felt awkward and avoided Roxas' nervous look and Xion's curious look, and Namine's understanding look.

"Hey, are the other two still out cold?" Lea asked to the other two Radiant Garden residents.

"Dilan and Even are conscious again, but still unstable. They're resting inside." Aeleus was the one to answer.

"I did what I could to heal them up, but we'll have to wait and see." Namine added.

"Gotcha." Lea nodded, understanding.

Xion couldn't help but wonder, "If you lived here and this is were all you lost your hearts and you came back here, does that mean the rest of the Organization got their hearts back too?"

"Then that means they all returned to their worlds too, right?" Roxas added, crossing his arms against his chest. "I thought that once someone turns into a heartless and becomes a Nobody, that's the end of them."

"Xemnas obviously lied to all to us." Isa spoke up. "All so to prevent us in getting our hearts back. He told us lies so that we could be loyal to him. For what, probably for more chaos."

"I don't doubt that." Ienzo agreed, before he explained, "When someone who's lost their heart is recompleted, they should return to the place where it happened. And if

that world is unavailable for whatever reason, a refuge is made for them in the realm between-a world called "Traverse Town." They would be sent there."

"Xion and Roxas just told us that in a more basic guess, you know?" Isa pointed out, while Lea strolled over to the painting of Xehanort, the redhead having his arms crossed against his chest.

Lea then added, "The only problem is, Xehanort had a keyblade too. Why use us and Roxas and have Even create Xion in the first place?"

"I agree, it is strange." Ienzo replied.

"We're not the only ones Xehanort managed to hurt." Namine spoke up, "He ruined the lives of three others too. Their memories sleep within Sora, and, those memories ended up appearing in Roxas's and Xion's nightmares."

"How?" Isa asked, curious and finding himself worried.

That's when Roxas remembered something and asked, "Oh, right! S-I mean, Isa, you were with Lea before you guys your hearts, right? Were you there when Lea met some guy named Ventus?"

Now that the blonde-haired boy mentioned it, Isa recalled briefly meeting someone Lea quickly made friends with in their childhood, and replied, looking at Roxas, "Come to think it now, Roxas, you do look and sound exactly like Ventus-as if you are his younger sibling or body-double."

"I remember seeing a boy who resembled to you as well." Aeleus spoke up, also looking at Roxas. "He tried to enter the castle looking for someone, but then he ran off to fight against a monster that attacked Radiant Garden twelve years ago."

Ienzo then stood up and also looked at Roxas, admitting, "Now that you mention it, when I was a young boy, I remember meeting someone who resembled to Roxas and he saved my life from monsters. I was ten years old at the time. He had a Keyblade."

"What!?" Lea, Roxas, Xion, Aeleus and Isa all cried out in shock, gazing at Ienzo.

"He's also one of those people who needs to be saved." Namine spoke again, getting everyone's attentions again, before she continued, "He and Sora both share a special connection."

Sighing, Lea grumbled, "What a drag. Does that mean Xehanort terrorized the worlds long before we got involved in his mess?"

"Hmm." Ienzo thought, "Well, acutally-"

"Ah!" Lea held up an extended finger to have the youngest adult to shut up, before lowering his hand, and muttered, "Forget it."

Xion then asked, "Do you think King Mickey might know? From what Namine told us, he knew Ventus and two others from twelve years ago, and something happened to them that caused them to connect with Sora, and why Roxas and I are seeing Ventus' painful memories."

"It's most likely because despite being humans now yourselves, you and Roxas are still part of Sora, Xion." Ienzo thought.

"More like they're now Sora's brother and sister?" Lea asked, finding himself curious and a tad more worried.

"It's hard to explain, but that's a best guess." Ienzo admitted.

"There might be more clues at Castle Oblivion." Isa suggested.

"Gimme a break." Lea grumbled, "That place is a maze that can easily get you lost forever." He then looked at the diagram of Tron(or something), and states, "You know what? I'll go and find out myself."

Ienzo glanced at him, and for the first time, was dumbfounded and asked, "Huh? How, exactly?"

Everyone else glanced at Lea who had his back to them, and muttered sarcastically to himself, "Why do _I_ always get stuck with the icky jobs?"

"I'm going too." Roxas spoke up, causing Lea to glance at him, as the boy continued, "Two people is better than one, right?"

"I'll go too." Isa offered. "I think it's time I'd redeem myself, if you guys will let me."

Lea smiled, and nodded, "It's cool." before looking at Roxas and asked, "Okay with you?"

"Well, okay." Roxas nodded with a smile. "Come to think of it, I like Isa better than Saix."

"At least you and Lea have one thing in common." Isa chuckled. "I prefer hanging out with cheerful people anyday, but not too cheerful."

"Yeah, Demyx beats the world record on that one, even if he was the laziest." Lea agreed with a grin, causing Roxas, and even Xion to giggle.

Speaking of Xion, she then said, "I'm coming too. I want to know more about Ventus."

"Let me go too." Namine voulenteered, "Plus, I think the first place to go to is Disney Castle. I'm sure Mickey will help us out."

Lea agreed, "Then it's off to Disney Castle."

And to Disney Castle is where Lea and his four best friends would go, despite them walking into a more dangerous situation, which also involved the two heroes of the Keyblade who in the meantime were also learning more truths themselves. For one thing, Isa was back, and Lea was thankful.

Now his childhood best friend is set to begin his redemption.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I bet you guys probably thought in the back of your minds, "Isa's gonna turn bad again!" Well, I didn't even think about doing that. As you see, Isa is now an ally and once again Lea's best friend! I'd go to make Braig a villian forever since he's bad to the bone, and that he's the one stupid enough to follow Xehanort in the first place.**

**What do you think so far? Please review!**


	7. Connections

**Second Life**

**Author's note: I'm glad that you guys are thankful that Isa is an ally now. After witnessing him in BBS, and when I thought about Saix and how different two halves were different, my theory was that Xehanort and Xigbar filled up Saix's head with series of lies and turned him into a half-Xehanort, without Axel knowing.**

**And Kat, you're so sweet and your welcome. Fortunuately, I'm not the only one who explain things to everyone who reads stories. Like I said, I try my best. Coming up with ideas and how to put them into a chapter is that hard part, but I eventually do it. At the moment, this will be my main focus, along with the Christmas gathering with my family.**

**Let's continue on, shall we? Please remember that I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Those rights belong to Disney and Square Enix.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH7: Connections.<strong>_

_**During the events of 358/2 Days-Sometime between day 296 and day 297.**_

_Xion continued to hide and run from the Organization. She didn't know where she was going, but for one thing, she was not who she thought that she was. Why hadn't Xemnas told her? For one thing, she couldn't risk in getting Roxas and Axel, her best friends, involved. She had to do this alone. As much as she wanted to return to her friends, she knew that she couldn't, not the way she was feeling now._

_Right now, and unable to understand why, but Xion found herself in the Realm of Darkness, outside the World that Never Was, and in an never-ending abyss of cliffs, edges, ledges, pathways that make up roads that were over a keep carven beneath that if someone fell, they would die. The black-haired girl continued to wander aimlessly, her mind on her best friends, and the dream of the three of them at the beach-in the world where she first discovered the sea-shells._

_It was small, but it was beautiful. If only she was a real person, Xion would've loved to live there._

_Pausing in her steps, Xion felt a lump in her chest, threating to burst out. Her eyes began to sting and feel strange._

_Perhaps that imposter was right. Xion is a sham. A toy. Not a living being at all._

_The more she thought about this, the more she felt the unbearable urge to burst and scream. Falling to her knees, she began to choke, but it wasn't a normal choke. Demyx had nearly choked on an single cranberry a few months ago. But this kind of choking, Xion couldn't describe it._

_She then felt something wet trickle down her face. Puzzled, she gently wiped away the water on her fingertips and looked at it. She didn't know it, but she was crying._

_Unknown to her at the moment, a blue haired-young woman, who was obviously Aqua, still trapped within the Realm of Darkness herself, noticed a young person on the ground soil of darkness. Aqua titled her head at the sight, though her inner abilities held other ideas._

_"I can feel something. That is not a normal person. Not even...human." Aqua thought to herself. Being cutious, Aqua summoned Master Eraqus's Keyblade, since she lost her own, and Master Eraqus was gone, before slowly approaching Xion, who, sensing something herself, quickly gasped and stood up, turning around._

_Seeing somethign different, and, her skills kicking in, Xion stood vigilant, demanding, "Who're you?"_

_Now that Aqua could see the child's face, she gasped as in her vision, stood a 14 year old girl with red-hair, white tank top, purple skirt and shoes, wearing the same necklace as a four year old similiar girl Aqua met a decade ago. However, she knew that this wasn't who she thought she was._

_"Kairi?" Aqua asked, stunned, before the image of the older Kairi vanished and Xion returned to her vision, but her face, the identical image of the girl, was still there._

_Xion, after seeing so many dreams of a girl with red-hair, was shocked to hear this, and her eyes began to ring, and her head began to pound painfully, the dizzy spells return. Stumbling, Xion tried to control it, before she looked at Aqua again and snapped, "My name's not Kairi!" before she summoned her Keyblade and got into a fighting stance._

_Now Aqua was beyond belief. She sensed light within the Keyblade, but something seemed off. "Why do you have a Keyblade?"_

_"I was about to ask you the same thing." Xion replied, "But I'm not telling!"_

_"You can't be human if you not even real." Aqua decided to say, not taking any chances._

_Both of them stood there, waiting for either one to begin a fight if needed be. But eventually, Xion's resolve was still shaken, and she stood up straight but looked to the ground, unable to fight the way she was feeling now. Maybe it was better off if she disappeared, but she didn't want to-not yet._

_"You're right." Xion muttered, "I'm not real. I'm not even a Nobody." as she desummoned her Keyblade. "I...I don't know what I am."_

_Aqua was puzzled, but sensing the grief within this girl, decides to de-summon her weapon as well, and approached Xion. The older woman then asked, "Why do you say that?"_

_Xion looked away, muttering, "I'm just...a doll. A puppet...These memories I've been seeing, ones that are not...like the ones I had with my friends...I don't know anymore."_

_"Someone created you, and you ran away, because of what's happening to you." Aqua thought. Shaking her head, she muttered, "How else can a puppet know, only to do what their master wants them to do."_

_As Xion looked at the human girl and gasped, Aqua continued, "It's like someone that I fought against used my friends for something horrible-making my best friends fight, both of them being used like they're puppets. They couldn't escape from it. There's no escaping the darkness."_

_'_Maybe Xemnas is using me_.' Xion thought. Outloud, she said, "I don't...I don't want to be used for anything horrible. I don't want to hurt my friends. But...are they really my friends? Or am I nothing?"_

_Suddenly, in Xion's mind, a new voice, one that sounded like Roxas, appeared and said in her ears, "_I'm asking you, as a friend; Just-put an end to me_."_

_Gasping, and, believing that Roxas is in trouble, Xion, without a second glance to Aqua, turned and quickly ran away._

_"Wait!" Aqua cried out, but she was too late as Xion disappeared into the corridor of darkness, leaving her alone, trapped once again._

_"A doll who doesn't want to hurt her friends." Aqua thought to herself. "If she...if she can do that, then she evolved into much more and is no longer a puppet. But...something's wrong."_

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Back in the Present.<strong>_

Xion shook her head as she tried to drive away one of her most painful memories. Why did she remember a blue haired girl within the Realm of Darkness? And why does she feel so...familiar? Unaware that she paused in the middled of the corridor of light and darkness, the usual pathway that is the transport for her, Roxas, Lea and now Isa, Xion's mind continued to stumble through memories ever since passing through here.

'_Why is this...happening? What's going on-_' Suddenly Xion's head began to pound painfully again, sharper than normal, and she quickly clutched her head with both of her hands, and without knowing it, she fell to her knees, which caught the attention of her friends who heard her cry of agony and four of them quickly rushed over to her aid.

"Xion!?" Roxas cried out, worriedly, kneeling next to his friend.

But Xion didn't hear him, or the others, as new visions appeared in her mind, painful ones, ones that are making her scared.

"Xion!? Answer us!" Lea cried out.

"Something's wrong." Namine said scaredly, "I think she's seeing more of Ventus's memories."

"Ventus's memories? Are you sure?" Isa asked, finding himself worried now as well.

Unable to handle this, Lea suggested, "We'd better find a place to rest for a while, and then we'll head over to the Castle. Xion's in trouble." quickly but gently scooping her into his arms, and called forth a corridor to let them out and onto a nearby world. Roxas and the others didn't argue, as they followed Lea towards their nearby exit, while Xion began to pass out, but she was seeing more of the painful memories.

* * *

><p><em>When Xion opened her eyes, she blinked in confusion. She was standing in a middle of a wasteland, the winds blowing, and no trace of life. Roxas, Lea, Namine and Isa were nowhere to be seen. As she was about to call out to her friends, she noticed three figures in front of her that appeared suddenly, and she gasped in horror, covering her mouth with her hands.<em>

_A boy that looked like Roxas but in different clothing, King Mickey in his usual clothes except that the clothing were all gray, and the old man she witnessed in her nightmares earlier. Xion suddenly realised what this means._

_This was another one of Ventus's memories, and the boy who looks like Roxas is Ventus._

_Master Xehanort smiled wickedly, as he says to the agonized Ventus, "Ah yes, so you are starting to realize...what you lost-oh, but not for good." He was saying evilly, sending chills within Xion's spine, terrifying her._

_He then continued, "You had to lose in order to find. Now it can all be yours again, if you only reach out and take it."_

_Hearing Xehanort saying this automatically caused Xion to remember something, a forgotten memory of Sora's. "_In this place, to find is the lose, and to lose is the find_." which also made her even more scared._

_"Reclaim the part that left you. Clash with him! Pure light against pure darkness, to forge the ultimate key. The all-powerful X-blade!" Xehanort declared, just as Ventus, his painful memories too much for him to bare, screamed and then collasped onto the ground._

_Xion was now feeling it herself, because she fell onto her knees, and held her head, muttering, "No...please, make it stop!"_

_"Key...blade?" Ventus asked weakly._

_"Not the Keyblades you and I carry." Xehanort says as he held out his hand, and he magically created a single stylized X which was floating. The evil Keyblade master then continued, "_"X"... _A most ancient letter. Some say _"kye," _but the meaning is the same." before making it disappear. "Death... A letter that spells endings."_

_As he said this, he called forth a powerful dark portal above Ven and Mickey. Xion looked up to see this, and knew, that this man was so evil, that she realised that he wishes death for all worlds, all for a mysterious X-Blade. Even the thought of it was frighting her so much, she wanted nothing more than to go home._

_"And I have the power to make it?" Ventus says, and Xion ended up saying it at the same time, before she gasped and held a hand over her mouth, shocked that she actually said this. This was bad._

_Xehanort answered, "Correct. Eraqus knows it, too. He knows exactly what you are."_

_"The master?" Ventus asked._

_"Haven't you ever wondered? Why he never granted you permission to leave his side, to grow stronger?" Xehanort questioned, before explaining, "Eraqus was frightened of you. If you were to learn the truth, realize what you are... He never trusted you. Why else would he keep you within his sight at all times?"_

_Xion's eyes widened in horror. Ventus was chosen to create such a deadly weapon, and was the same boy who was one of those who Xehanort managed to ruin, the one who is also one of those connected to Sora that needed to be saved? Perhaps Ventus was a puppet, a dangerous one, just like Xion once was, and it all lands to the same result._

_As a purple lightning strike hits near Ventus, the boy, in realisation, stood up, and admitted, "Yeah. He never let me see other worlds, no matter how much I asked."_

_Hearing this made Xion wonder if Ventus had lost his memories and was in the similiar result as Roxas and herself._

_Xehanort smirked, as he pushes his hand forward and causes wind to rush at Ventus, declaring, "Go! You can ask the man yourself. Learn the truth, and remember you have a greater purpose!" before the wind carried both Ventus and the unconscious Mickey right into the portal, where both of them disappeared._

_Xion watched on in horror as the portal vanished, but when she turned her gazed towards Xehanort again, she gasped as he seemed to have turned his attention...towards her. Smirking, he walked towards her. In fear, Xion tried to run, but she ended up tripping and fell onto the ground, trying to crawl backwards, away from the man._

_But once he got close, she screamed in terror, and then...it was all black._

* * *

><p>Screaming, Xion jolted upright from a lying position, and panted, tears falling from her eyes. Blinking and getting the look of her new surroundings, the young teen took notice that she was not in the scary wasteland, or even in the corridor. But appearing to be on a black ship with black sails-a Pirate ship.<p>

Thankfully, she wasn't alone. On her left, sitting next to her, were Lea and Roxas, and on her right, were Isa and Namine, in the same position as the other two.

"Xion, are you okay?" Lea asked, worriedly.

Xion could only nod, before asking, "What happened to me?"

"You suddenly collasped while we were travelling through the corridor." Isa answered, before he asked, "Don't you remember?"

Looking down to the ground, the black-haired girl admitted, "I only remember travelling through it, seeing one memory, and then..." she paused, wondering if she should continue or not. Deciding that she would, she continued, "Another that was so horrible. It was worse than the nightmare of a old man hurting who I thought was Roxas."

She paused again, and before her friends could say anything, she added, "I saw that horrible man and that boy again. The King was there too, but he was unconscious. The man said something about that boy having the power to create, some sort of 'X-Blade', and mentioned death, and, I think that boy was like me, but different."

"X-Blade?" Lea asked, confused. "What's that?"

"I don't know." Xion shook her head, more scared than ever. "It was horrible. After he casted the boy and the King away to other worlds,...he approached me." before bringing up her knees to her chest, hugged her knees and hid her face in her arms, and began to cry.

This made her four friends worry even more. Namine was looking terrified herself, but she didn't say anything. Isa and Lea both looked at each other, more worried than ever before. Roxas, knowing how his crying friend was feeling, placed a hand onto her shoulder to comfort her.

"Xion..." Roxas began, but found himself unable to say anything.

"It's alright, Xion." Isa tried, rubbing Xion's back, also trying to comfort her.

Lea opted to ruffle Xion's head, saying, "Hey, c'mon, Xi'. It's okay." even though he utterly sucks at trying to cheer people up, especially girls. Seeing girls cry like this always makes him feel both guilty and uncomfortable, unable to forgive himself for that.

"We're here for you, Xion. It's alright." Namine added.

"We're all together, okay? Everything's gonna be fine." Roxas finally managed to say.

Willing herself to calm down, and, feeling a bit better due to her friends being here, and with Isa now supporting her unlike his Nobody-self, Xion lifted her head, her eyes red due to crying, and her face all wet with tears, but as she looked at her friends, they all held supporting smiles. Wiping her tears away with her coat-sleeve, Xion nodded, smiling a little.

"Thank you, guys. All of you are so sweet." She muttered.

Lea's face turned red as he cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed. Even Isa was blushing, because he had to look away a little to avoid getting more embarrassed. Namine and Roxas both smiled wider.

Once she knew that she's calmed down, Xion sighed, before looking around the deck of the ship again, and asked, "So, where are we?"

"I don't know if you don't remember since you were inside Sora, but this is a Pirate ship." Lea stated, "A ship with Black Sails, crewed by the damned. Sound familiar?"

"That's just a stupid rumor." Isa grumbled.

"It's the Black Pearl. You know, the one Sora's pirate friend is Captain of?" Roxas told Xion.

"Way to kill the fun, man." Lea grumbled, while Isa shook his head with a smirk, and Namine giggled.

It made sense to Xion, because she said, "Oh, so this is the the Ship of Sora's friend." before asking, "Wasn't it, Jack Sparrow or something?"

"Well, yeah. But I haven't seen him or his crew around." Roxas admitted.

"Yeah, come to think of it," Lea began, as he looked around, "The boat is pretty much deserted, and left stranded on some jungle-island." before admitting as he looked at the mountain and palm trees, "This place looks creepy of hell."

"You're the one who took us here." Roxas pointed out.

Lea pouted, "Hey! I was worried about Xion, alright?"

"I agree with Roxas on this one." Isa pointed out, "You couldn't have picked somewhere a bit more comfortable."

The redhead grumbled at this, and said, "Yeah, well, we were in a hurry. Besides, it's not like we're camping here or anything. I didn't even bring my sleeping bag or my camping aqquipment."

"Actually," Xion began, "Seeing these trees is better than what I saw in my nightmares lately." she admitted.

"It's better than Halloween Town." Namine agreed. "That place is spooky."

"Uh, that's the whole point of that world. It is Halloween. It's meant to freak you out." Lea reminded. Then admitted, "Then again, to me, that place isn't as bad as Wonderland. Man, that place always gives me the heebee jeebees."

Isa looked at the mountains again, and said, "I hate to admit it, but this place is giving me the creeps."

Seeing how everyone is getting uncomfortable, Lea looked at Xion again and asked, "Hey, you feelin' alright to travel again, or do you need a bit more time to settle down?"

"I should be okay." Xion answered.

Nodding, and all of them standing up, Lea declared, "Alright. Let's get goin'."

But as he was about to open a corridor, suddenly they all heard a voice yelling out, "Jack! Jack Sparrow! Marty! Cotton!" causing them to stop, and glance over the railing of the ship. On the beach below them, was a young man, whom, Roxas and Xion, having been part of Sora, recongised him.

It was Will Turner.

"Anybody?" Will asked, seeing how he thought he was alone, unaware of five figures that were not part of this world onboard the Pearl, and, well, the island wasn't pleasent.

Quickly hiding behind the railing and crouching to avoid being seen, Roxas and the others waited until Will walked into the jungle, unaware of the dangers.

"That was Will." Roxas whispered.

"Who?" Lea asked in a soft voice.

"Will Turner. A Black Smith from Port Royal." Roxas answered.

Xion then added, "He is also one of Sora's friends of this world. He was on a mission to rescue Elizabeth Swann from Jack's enemy Barbossa."

"Oh, that guy." Lea remembered. He used to hear about Sora's journeys after the battle against Xemnas, via either letters, visits or from Roxas and Xion.

"Somehow, I don't think he's aware that this island isn't a vacation resort." Isa muttered, in a hint of sarcasm.

Just then, something landed near Lea who, in fright, screamed, "AHH!" and fell onto the deck with his eyes wide, alarming his friends who looked, only for them, and Lea to groan, as a blue and yellow parrot had landed on the railing. It was Cotton's Parrot.

"Geez, polly." Lea grumbled at the bird, "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Awk! Don't eat me!" was the Bird's only reply.

This confused the five of them, as they all looked at each other, before they looked at the bird again, and Isa asked, "Why would we want to eat you?"

But the bird just repeated the same sentence, "Don't eat me! No! Don't eat me! Awk!"

"Geez, even Iago wasn't this annoying." Roxas grumbled, comparing to the red Parrot in Agrabah and this Parrot of this world.

Suddenly, Xion and Namine both began to giggle, before the former said to Lea, "Wow, that was exciting!"

"He started it!" Lea protested, pointing at the annoying parrot.

Looks like they'll be staying for a while, but not too long.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I wasn't gonna go straight to Disney Castle. It was the original plan, but I changed my mind and decided to make it more of an adventure for the five of them instead. They'll be more twists later on in the story.**

**Until then, please continue your awesome reviews, and Merry Christmas!**


	8. Oh Bugger

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Hi again, guys! Thank you for your reviews, they're great! And Kat, I'm glad to make you happy too. I was once like you before I became an author of the fanfiction.**

**Anyway, let's continue our adventure, fellow readers and reviewers! Remember, I don't own anything here.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH8: Oh Bugger.<strong>_

For all times for Cloud to lose in a battle, it HAD to be during an investigation in his world with Tifa, Vincent and those three treasure hunting trio of girls. Who were they again-the Gullwings? He didn't remember much. One minute he was in Nibelhiem, his childhood home, looking for clues on the project of Sephiroth that would help him and his friends understand the knowlage of Kadaj and his gang. It's been almost two weeks since he and his group came back here to clues.

Then the next thing he knew, he was knocked out, and now, as he was regaining consciousness, Cloud realised he was on a bed, surprisingly a comfy one. He probably has a couple of bruises, or a bump on his head.

As he sat up, Cloud realised that he was in a hotel room, one that was rebuilt after the Nibelhiem incident years ago. As he looked around, Tifa was lying in a bed next to his, still unconscious but rest peacefully. Cloud found Vincent on another bed in a similiar position as Tifa, and it looked like his chest was hurting. A few memories returned to him during the fight. Yuna, Rikku and Paine were nowhere to be found.

Or, so he thought.

"About time you woke up, spiky!" came Rikku's voice. Cloud turned to see the youngest girl with her cousin and friend near the wardrobe. Rikku didn't look all that happy, as she continued, "Do you realise how worried sick I was!?"

"What happened?" Cloud asked.

"Don't you remember?" Yuna asked, before she explained, "That big man named Azul and that woman Rosso attacked us, demanding for some sort of 'Promateria' and, well, they knocked us out."

"The next thing we knew, a Lea-look-a-like guy and his tall friend had carried us here. You're the forth person to wake up." Paine added, her arms crossed against her chest. If Cloud didn't know any better, he would've mistaked Paine for Vincent's daughter or something.

On the other hand, hearing the, 'Lea-look-a-like' made him realise who it was.

Before either of them could say anything else, though, a familiar voice said directly to Cloud, "You know, you're pretty heavy." causing them to turn towards the door, and see that Reno and Rude were there. It was Reno who spoke.

Now that Cloud had seen the Turks again, he realised that Reno and Lea were both identical to each other, even though the blonde-haired man didn't think that the two redheads would ever meet. If they did, then that would be a recipe for disaster.

"You weren't looking for the fake towns people?" Rude asked in a stern tone.

"'Cuz they ain't here." Reno added, in a similiar tone.

Cloud sighed, "I wasn't looking for the ShinRa staff." he admitted, "I'm trying to figure out about Kadaj by looking up a few clues on Sephiroth."

Reno and Rude both became shocked as it's seen on their expressions, their sternness fading. The two men looked at each other, before glancing back at Cloud, with Reno asked, "So, you're gonna go and fight them?"

"They attacked a couple of my friends almost two weeks back." Cloud replied, "And I just had a feeling that they were connected to Sephiroth-Kadaj's gang I mean."

"Oh, so you were looking for the reports, right?"

That's when Rikku said, "That was the idea. We were just about to enter the haunted house when this, half-giant blue haired guy with his vains sticking out and glowing on his skin, and a, um, crazy red-haired lady that was so fast that even a fly would have trouble catching up, and well, they suddenly attacked us, looking for some sort of promateria thingy, and well, the lady pulled out a glowing materia thingy and made a big hole in Vincent's chest before they knocked us out, or something." even though she was having trouble on trying to describe the event.

"Okay..." Reno trailled off, deep in thought. "Some crazy woman literally pulled some sort of materia out of Vincent's chest and that's the reason for the big hole in it. Is that what you're sayin'?"

"A hole in a chest?" Vincent's strained voice spoke up, before the rest of them could continue, causing all of them(except Tifa who was still unconscious), to glance at the man in the red cape, seeing that Vincent was awake now himself, looking just as exhausted as Cloud felt.

"Vincent. How are you feeling?" Cloud asked, with a hint of concern.

The older man sighed, and muttered, "I've been a bit better." before noticing Reno and Rude, and stated, "I didn't think I'd see you two again."

"And I didn't expect you to still be out and about from your coffin." Reno muttered in sarcasm. "Who'd have thunk? I knew you were part immortal, since that wound healed it up all by itself, which was creepy."

When Rikku heard this and went over to see, she was stunned that Reno was right. The wound in Vincent's chest was all but gone. "Whoa! I thought you were different, but I never thought you were that different! Man, I seriously thought you were a goner! But I guess that's why you're still breathing!" she giggled.

Yuna shook her head with a smile, while Paine said to her, "I think she's been around Yuffie too long. She's worse than ever."

"That kid always like this?" Reno asked, a bit uncomfortable with Rikku's personality.

"She can get worse sometimes." Yuna shrugged with a gentle smile.

That's when Cloud remembered; the fight, the two strange people. "First Kadaj and his gang, and now a strange large man named Azul and some crazy woman named Rosso."

"Wait, did you just say Azul?" Reno asked, hoping that he was wrong.

"You know that giant?" Rikku asked, hearing this.

The Turks paused uncomfortably, before Rude stated, "We met him, a long time ago."

"That guy was just as fight-hungry as SOLDIER." Reno added, "And I swear that he wanted to eat _me_."

"Yeowch, and he said I was a size of a girl's doll to him, and that he wanted to have me for lunch!" Rikku grimced.

'_At least we're not in Wonderland._' Cloud thought to himself.

"So he's alive." Rude muttered, as he glanced at Reno who stared at him in return, his expression in a mixture of worry, and maybe a little scared.

"I thought he was dead." Reno thought. He turned to look at Cloud and asked, "And you said you were looking for Kadaj and his gang, right?"

"Yeah." Cloud nodded.

Reno then asked, "Then, you wouldn't happen to have seen some silver-haired kid in a black coat, would you?"

"No." Vincent was the one who answered. "Why?"

"He said he was looking for Kadaj's gang, and...he wanted to find Hojo too." Reno admitted.

"Hojo's dead." Cloud pointed out.

"Maybe not." Vincent thought deeply, causing everyone to glance at him. "I have a feeling that Hojo is very much alive. I think the situation is getting worse."

Cloud didn't like the sound of that. Then it occured to him. He heard from Sora about how Lea had regained his heart back in the World that Never Was when the redhead was Axel, and how Sora's heart, with Kairi's aid and Lea's wish, had brought Roxas and Namine back and recreated Xion, making the three former Nobodies human again. If that was true, and if the some of the dead can return to life, then that means...

"When Tifa wakes up, we gonna go and find that young man in the coat." Cloud declared. When everyone looked at him, shocked, he continued, "If Hojo is back, I get a feeling that he's not the only one who'll return and become a threat."

"Soundn't we warn Leon first?" Yuna asked.

Cloud thought about it, then decided, "Alright, then Yuna, you, Rikku and Paine take Tifa back. Vincent and I will go and find that kid and Kadaj's gang, and if we have to, Hojo, and stop them."

"Whoa, since when did you return to your heroic self?" Reno grinned.

The spiky-haired blonde man shrugged with a grin of his own. "I guess Sora must've rubbed it off on me, just like Zack did."

"Well, whoever this Sora is, I'd like to meet him." Reno stated. "You ain't half as fun as when you're in your sudden sour-mood."

"Yeah, Sora's like me when it comes to battles, in style I mean." Cloud admitted, before he softly chuckled, and added, "He's a lucky kid."

* * *

><p>As much as Lea wanted to get out of this creepy jungle island, with a talking Parrot as a witness, it made things difficult. Okay, so this blue and yellow parrot was just as stupid as Iago back in Agrabah, but something inside his stomach told him that the bird would no doubt alert the Pirates and drive them all crazy when they get back.<p>

Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine agreed that it was better off if they waited until the bird decides to leave, which, unfortunately, the stupid relative of the dinosaurs, decided to stay, and on top of everything else, there was a little monkey, which Roxas and Xion both recongised as Jack the Monkey, Barbossa's pet monkey, who was screeching every five seconds, and it was driving the five of them crazy.

"Ugh!" Lea stood up in frustration as he had been lying on the icky deck, and yelled at the little furball, "Shut up and get lost already, you miniture gorilla!" his voice echoing, and his paitence finally ran out.

The Monkey didn't get the message, but he scampered away higher on the ropes like a hairy spider.

"I hate that monkey." Isa grumbled, just as frustrated as his best friend was. Roxas looked annoyed, Xion had covered her heads to drive out anymore noise the monkey was making, and Namine sighed, having a bit of a headache.

"Tell me about it." Roxas agreed.

"Awk! Walk the plank!" Squawked the parrot.

Lea turned to the bird with a dangerous look and muttered, "You stay out of this, polly!"

Unfortunately, to add to everything else, several shadows suddenly appeared from the darkness on the deck, and surrounded the five of them who were shocked to notice this. The group quickly summoned their weapons as Roxas cried out, "Heartless!? Where'd they come from!?"

"I'll take care of them!" Lea announced, snapping his fingers and in an instant, the heartless were caught on fire and were burned to death, and disappeared.

"That was quick." Roxas admitted, "Wish I could do that."

"Sleep." a new female voice suddenly said.

Just as Lea turned around in confusion, asking, "Who said that?-" when suddenly, in a blink of an eye, he suddenly felt dizzy, and sleepy. Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine were not the only ones. They all suddenly stumbled, wondering why they were suddenly passing out. One by one, they collasped onto the deck of the ship, and Lea was the last. The last thing he saw was a young girl in orange hair, in some kind of uniform, before his world went black.

As the five of them were unconscious, the girl, Shelke, approached them, with her older sister, Shalua, standing next to her.

"Are you sure it's the best way for them to go away, to avoid our enemies gaining more vessals?" Shelke asked.

"It's the only way. It's not yet their time, but that doesn't mean they'll be dead." Shalua answered. With great effort, the two sisters carried the five sleeping forms off the ship and into the jungle, before they escaped, and unfortunately for Lea and his four best friends, unfriendly people saw them, and carried all of them towards a place where their fates are decided.

* * *

><p>The first feeling Lea felt was that he was thrown and landed onto a very uncomfortable platform, as he was quickly jolted awake and he cursed, "OW!" and quickly leaned onto his knees and hands, trying to get rid of the last of the drowsiness.<p>

He felt the ground shake about four more times, and he tried to keep his balance. When he opened his eyes, they widened in horror as Lea realised he wasn't on a platform at all, but rather, inside a cage that was hanging dangerously about 100 feet above an abyss would if the rope supporting it snapped, no one would survive. He gasped and quickly jolted up and landed on his bottom, fear clinging onto his heart.

Where was he? What was going on?

"Lea, you okay?" Roxas asked.

The redhead quickly looked, and sighed in relief as Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine were also now awake themselves, and, they were in the company of Pirates, and Will Turner. Lea immediatley hugged his foru best friends in sheer relief, as he had been worried for a split second that they weren't around.

"You're okay!" Lea muttered.

"Yeah, and we're not in the best of company, though." Isa grumbled, referring to the Pirates.

One of the Pirates, Gibbs, nodded in agreement, "Aye, and this ain't the best place for introductions either." causing the five wordly-travellers to glance at him.

"Well, you got that right." Roxas chuckled. "I'm Roxas."

"My name's Xion." Xion added.

"I'm Namine." Namine introduced herself.

Isa introduced himself, "My name is Isa."

"And I'm Lea." Lea finally said, before tapping the side of his head, saying his catchphrase, "Got it Memorized?"

"Will Turner." Will introduced himself, "And this is Gibbs, Marty, and Cotton." he added as he pointed to the Pirates who all nodded. He then asked, "Did you get captured by the Cannibles too?"

Lea and Isa's expressions turned into horror, their faces turning all pale white as milk at this. Roxas, Xion and Namine all looked at each other, and, seeing the expressions on their older friends' faces, they could tell that these Cannibals were not good news.

"Well, I don't remember." Lea said awkwardly. "One minute we were ship wrecked and hung out to dry to make a raft to get off this creepy island, and the next thing we knew, someone decided to put us to sleep. I think it was some girl with orange hair, before I passed out." as he recalled the last part, while having lied about the rest of us. It was better to keep their real situation a secret.

"They must've then found you and carried you here." Gibbs concluded.

"Probably." Isa sighed. "And I don't fancy the idea of being on their dinner menu."

Now Roxas and the two girls were horrified by this. Lea saw this and he whispered to them, understanding their earlier confusion, "Yup, that's what a Cannibal means; they're people who eat other people."

"Are they going to eat us?" Roxas exclaimed, horrified.

Lea flinched, and mouthed, 'Sorry', knowing that this was utterly his own fault. Why couldn't he just carried Xion back to Radiant Garden instead? He felt like a complete idiot for getting himself and his best friends into this mess. Or why didn't he risk in letting the stupid parrot seeing the corridor of darkness instead?

"It's up to the Pelagostas." Gibbs sighed.

"The Pe-la-go-what?" Lea asked, unable to pronounce the word.

Will, sighing, grumbled, "I know that he doesn't know these young people, but how could Jack do this to us? If Jack is the chief-"

"Aye, the Pelagostas made Jack their chief." Agreed Gibbs, "But he only remains a chief as long as he acts like a chief."

"Wait, did you say Jack?" Xion asked, confused.

"How'd you know?" Will asked.

It was Lea who answered, "Let's just say that we're friends of Sora. He told us about that crazy Pirate Captain of the Black Pearl."

'_I only heard of this man through Luxord._' Isa thought to himself, mentally cringing at the memory of his time as Saix.

"And let's just say that Xion and I know Sora almost too well." Roxas admitted, referring to the fact that he was once Sora's Nobody and that Xion was once his replica, a memory of Kairi.

"So anyway," Lea decided to return to the main subject, "What do you mean that Jack remains a chief as long as he acts like one?"

"Does it mean that he's a prisoner like the rest of us?" Isa inquired.

"And it gets worse, as it turns out." Gibbs nodded, before he turned to the younger people, and continued, "Ya see, the Pelagostas believe that Jack is a god in human form and they intend to do him the honor of releasing him from his fleshy prison."

Xion seemed to get the idea, because she asked very scaredly, "You mean...they're gonna eat him first before the rest of us?" her stomach turning uncomfortably. She felt like she was going to throw up and lose her lunch. She wasn't the only one. Lea, Isa, Roxas and Namine all looked sick as well.

It seemed that, to prove the idea, Cotton, who a long time ago lost his tongue, grabbed hold of Gibbs' hand and bite his fingers hard. In sheer annoyance, Gibbs pulled his hand away and glared at him, before he resumed his story, "Aye, they'll roast 'im and eat 'im."

"Oh great." Lea grumbled, while pulling Roxas and Xion closer to him to try and comfort them. Isa decided to try and comfort Namine. Both of them were the responsible adults for the three teens, and the redhead added, "And I seriously wanted to get away from this nightmare isle."

"Where's the rest of the crew?" Will asked, noticing that some of the crew of the Black Pearl were missing.

"These cages we're in," replied Gibbs, morbidly, "weren't built till after we got here."

Lea, his friends, and Will cringed in distaste. For Lea, it was like back when he was Axel that he tried the Sea-Salt Ice Cream for the first time in years and he cringed in distaste for that at first back then too. "Everyone's worst nightmare." he muttered.

The five of them finally noticed that drums were going off, and Gibbs then said, "The feast is about to begin. Jack's life will end when the drums stop."

"Unless he decides to secretly ditch them." Isa muttered in sarcasm.

"Well, I'm not gonna stand by and let us become the Cannibals' next party meal." Lea declared. He then looked at the cage, then noticed the two gaps of the cliffs, and then an idea occured to him.

"Guys," He announced, causing all of them in their cage to stare at him, as he said, "I have an idea."

Oh no...

* * *

><p>Isa never felt more embarrassed in his entire existance. Lea's 'idea' was, according to his childhood best friend, and in theory, was supposed to be simple. Swing the cages back and forth until they got close enough to the face of the cliff to grab the thick vines that trailed down from above. It would've been easy if they weren't too far from it, and that the ropes above them could break, but it was the risk they had to take.<p>

The situation didn't help since Marty keeped on throwing up a few times, probably due to motion-air-sickness. On the ship, the short man was probably fine. In this case, however, was a completely different story.

It took about like several swings, and even Namine was starting to get sick herself. Thank Kingdom Hearts that Yuffie wasn't here. Just as they made it, the vines they grabbed were just grass growing on the side, and Lea, Roxas, Isa, and the Pirate crew yelled and screamed out in frustration, before finally, one last mighty swing, the occupants of the cages finally managed to snag the thick vines that hung down the cliffs.

"Finally got it." Lea panted, but he knew that this was no time to take a break. "Phase one down, three more to go."

"And they would be?" Isa questioned.

Lea grinned, "Phase two; climb up. Phase three; getting out of the cage and run. Phase four: getting on the boat and get the hell outta here."

"Can we climb now?" Namine moaned, "I don't feel so good."

"Put your legs, through. Start to climb!" shouted Gibbs.

The two cages began a long, slow climb up the face of the cliff, even Xion and Namine putting all their strangths into it. Lea wanted to get off this island with his best friends and fast, but he knew that they had to be careful, but they had to be quick. What would his parents think if they saw him like this now? Actually, they were probably worried sick in the afterlife.

"Come on, everyone!" Shouted Will, as they climbed. "It'll take all of us to crew the Black Pearl!"

"Actually," came another man's voice from the opposite cage next to them, "You wouldn't need everyone. About six would do." at this, they all stopped, with both what he just said, and that the drums suddenly stopped. Their hearts fell into their stomachs as they knew what the latter meant. The man, named Leech, muttered, "Oh dear."

Lea and the others, along with Will, glanced at Gibbs who admittedly nodded.

"Oh crap." Lea muttered. "GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!" he shouted.

Everyone else didn't need him to say it twice, and they all tried to go faster as they all hurried to get away as safely and fast as they could, not wanting to become the next meal. Their time was running out, and they knew it.

It seemed to be race going on, because the Pirates in the opposite cage were trying to get ahead of Lea and his group's cage, and from what Roxas remembered during his time within Sora, a mutiny was gonna happen if Leech got to the top first.

Suddenly, Will noticed one of the native guards walking on the bridge and whispered, "Stop!" causing them to stop, and when they looked, they understood what he was seeing, and they had to wait until the guard has gone passed. If he sees them now, they're in much more deeper trouble.

Everyone waited, but unfortunately, Leech decided to take this opportunity, and telling his 'crew' to shush, he gestured them to continue climbing, much to the other prisoner's dismay.

"Hey! Stop!" Roxas hissed softly, but all he got was evil and mocking laughters.

'_Great, just great!_' Lea thought to himself angrily.

However, to make things worse, Leech grabbed hold on what he thought was a vine, but when he looked, terror filled his eyes and face, as he squealled, "Snake!" as the white and orange slithering reptile hissed at him, clearly telling him in snake language to let the vile human let it go.

His scream caused the others to scream, and, in their terror, they accidently let go of their vines and were falling back to where they started, having Lea and his group watch on in horror. To make things worse, the Cannibal noticed this, and to add to everything else, the rope that was supporting the falling cage, too much bearing, was snapped and it broke free, the trapped Pirates all screaming in horror and agony as they all fell to their deaths.

Namine covered her mouth with her left hand, and Xion quickly looked away, horrified. Lea and Isa glanced at each other, Roxas's mouth was opening and closing in sheer horror. Even Gibbs turned away, stunned and horrified expression on his face, as he mouthed, 'Whoa.' at the sight.

Unfortunately, the guard then noticed them, and realising what this means, quickly ran off to alert his fellow men. Seeing this, Isa shouted, "MOVE IT!" and without a second beat, the surviving prisoners continued their climbing, now that their time has run out, their only chance is to try and escape or they'll be ancient history!

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Our adventure continues in the next chapter! Please continued your awesome reviews and Happy New Year, if I'm not back during the last week of 2014.**


	9. Why are women so complicated?

**Second Life**

**Author's note: I've decided to write this now, and depending on what year it's now when I posted this, well, it's complicated.**

**Either way, let's continue. Remember, I don't own anything here.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH9: Why are women so complicated?<strong>_

After what seemed like endless and desperate hours, Lea and the others finally made it to the top, and with one last heave, the group managed to haul themselves onto the soild ground, which Roxas mentally wanted to bend on his knees and kiss it in sheer relief, but there wasn't any time for that. The first thing he did do, however, was summon his Oblivion Keyblade and sliced the rope that was still attacted to the cage, freeing them from being tied up at least.

However, nobody had time to do anything else, because after that, the cannibals were rushing straight towards them, giving out gibberish blood-curlding screams, and that, was not a good thing.

"Roll the cage!" Will ordered.

Despite that this is another embarrassing idea, the group had no choice. They run and rolled as fast as they could, getting more and more desperate, but suddenly, Xion was the first to notice the ground give way underneath her, and so did everyone else, since they had not been looking where they were going as they were too scared by the man-eating people, and now they were rolling down, down, down the steep hill, and they rolled all over the cage, trying to hold on for dear life.

Screaming their heads off, and Marty and Namine feeling more sick than ever, Gibbs and Roxas both prayed that the former two didn't throw up inside the cage. On top of everything else, instead of the cage breaking when it came towards a tree, it rolled up before he landed on the ground, causing everyone inside to land with a thud, and the Cannibals were still behind them.

"Lift the cage and run!" Roxas shouted.

"Come on, lads! Lift it like a lady's skirt!" Gibbs added, though Xion and Namine were offended by this.

Had the Pirates been wearing skirts, Lea would've laughed, but there was no time. Everyone lifted the cage and they ran as fast as they could, all having the same idea; run, get to the ship and get the hell outta here.

"Incoming!" Isa shouted, but it was too late, as he had noticed, they was a canyon in front of them, and they all fell into the darkness, and landed into the water of a river. The impact thankfully broke the cage, though. Immediately, Xion spotted a safe area and told them, "This way, guys!" and she led everyone in the group, though they had to dive and swim underwater to prevent getting hit by the arrows, and Lea and Roxas had to help Isa, Namine and Xion since the three obviously couldn't swim very well. Lea remembered that Isa refused to swim sometimes back in their childhood, and Namine and Xion, well, they were both too shy to take up swimming lessons.

They made to their area, but the Pelagostas had cornered them, and Lea tried his best to shield his four best friends despite that they were trapped. However, to their confusion, the cannibals stopped, and seemed to look at another direction, before they scampered off, leaving their 'meal' alone for now. As everyone looked at each other, Isa suggested, "Now's the time to make our escape."

"Good call." Roxas nodded in agreement.

Having swam and climbed and then continued to run, everyone hurried back to the beach and they noticed that the Black Pearl was already starting out to sea, and the answer to the question on how was revealed by two figures, one that only Roxas, Xion, Will, Gibbs and the rest of the Black Pearl crew recongised, two men who were originally part of Barbossa's crew.

As they continued to run, Lea noticed a dog, and quickly greeted, "Nice pooch!" before he finally made it to the boat with everyone else.

Pintel was struggling to keep his balance in the pounding surf, while he was busy hurling abuse at his would-be partner in crime, not noticing the approaching company. "Haul loose the mooring line! The mooring line!" he shouted up, getting more and more wet by the waves by the minute.

In the meantime, Ragetti, who was on the deck, was too busy and tried to get his wooden eye-ball back from the monkey who stole it from him. Thief!" Ragetti snarled, "Li'le, hairy thief give it back!"

"Haul loose the mooring line!" Pintel shouted once more.

Ragetti went up to the railing and cried out, "He's got me eye! He won't give it back!" looking as if he's gonna cry like a big baby.

His partner begged to differ. "Well, 'ow'd you get it back last time?"

"Excellent." Cried Gibbs, as he suddenly came up behind a suddened startled Pintel, "Our work's half done."

Surprised and realising that they're in trouble, Pintel squeaked, "We done it for you. Knowin' you'd be comin' back." as he was caught off-guard by this. He didn't even think that the new crew of the Pearl was still alive.

Gibbs, at the moment, didn't care, as he ordered, "Make ready to sail, boys."

"Wait!" Roxas cried out, "We can't just leave Jack behind!"

Before anyone else could say anything, they all heard Jack shouting, "Oi!" and when they turned, around the corner of a tall rock, was the Captain of the Pearl, frailing his arms in the air like a crazy person as he ran for his life. However, Will's and Roxas' relief turned into horror, along with the others, as behind Jack, were the people they seriously wanted to get away from, and they were obviously more furious than ever.

"Time to go." Lea squealed.

"Let's go." Isa added.(**A/N: I had to make these two a bit like Reno and Rude in how they reacted to the Summon in the Advent Children Movie**.)

"Make ready to cast off!" was Gibbs' panicked squeal as nobody argued with the redhead and the bluehead, as everyone quickly climbed up the ship, while Jack continued to run for his life(passing the same dog Lea passed, saying to it, "Good doggy!"), screaming like a banshee, and he screamed louder, until finally, as the ship was on the water being carried out, he grabbed hold of the rope and finally made it himself, climbing up, and his former 'followers' were left behind, now crying in agonized and heartbroken yells.

The Pirate captain had no desire to return here ever again, though. "Alas, my children, this is the day that you will always remember as the day you almost-" he was saying, before a wave suddenly splashed all over him, completely ruining his motto, as if saying to him, '_Get-on-with-it!_'

With this, Jack's expression and tone became sour, as he concluded, "Cap'n Jack Sparrow." before he climbed up to the deck.

Now that they were getting away from the Isle of Dead-Meat(Lea so decidedly named it), Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine were sprawled onto the familiar deck, panting in relief and exhaustion.

"Next time, remind me to take us somewhere else if this happens again." Lea suggested with each breath.

Roxas and Isa both laughed at this, and Xion giggled, but Namine sighed. She's the only one who didn't take the joke in this situation. Seeing this made Lea cringe and he openly admitted, "Okay, so it was my fault. I get the idea." as he sat up, and had his arm sitting on his leg as he had his knee in the air. The others sat up as well, while the pirates around them were busy.

Even though they managed to escape from being eaten, now the five travellers were in another problem. They were back where they started, and they had to wait until they reached the next destination so they could leave the Pirate world and hopefully head over towards Disney Castle like they wanted to in the first place.

"I believe an introduction would be nice." Jack spoke up as he approached the five. He then took a good gaze at Roxas and, as if sensing a flash of deja vu, he asked, "You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?"

"My name's Roxas." the blonde-haired boy answered, "I guess you probably noticed that I look like Sora."

"Oh." Jack understood. "So you're all Sora's friends, ay?" gesturing at Roxas's four friends who all nodded in agreement.

Lea decided to make the introductions to the rest of the group, "I'm Lea, and this is Roxas as you know, Xion, Namine and my childhood friend, Isa. Got it memorized?" he finished by tapping the side of his head, once again saying his catchphrase.

"Unfortunately," Jack admitted, "I'm terrible at some names."

'_Yeah, and you called Sora '_Zola_'._' Roxas thought.

The Pirate then inquired, "Now have any of you seen that monkey? I want to hit something." and as if on cue, the monkey screeched and it dropped the wooden eye-ball at Ragetti who immediately reclaimed his beloved eye. Jack looked up, ready, and Lea, sensing that he wanted to hit something too, stood up and asked, "Can I join you in hitting that ape?" with a grin.

"No." Isa immediately answered before Jack did.

"Ah, you're not fun." Lea grumbled as he crossed his arms, pouting. Roxas, Xion and Namine stood up as well, just as Will approached them.

"Jack," Will said warningly, "You owe me."

The older man looked at him with dumbfounded look, and pointed out, "What? I just saved your life!"

"I need that compass of yours. I must trade it for Elizabeth's freedom, because she's locked up for helping you!" was Will's sharp reply.

Lea and the others all glanced at each other, having no idea on what's going on. On the other hand, it seemed that they and the others weren't the only ones having problems. On the other hand, things are getting more and more strange. First Kadaj and his gang, then Braig and this young silver-haired youth, and it looked like this world needed help as well.

"Do you think Braig's behind this?" Roxas whispered.

"Dunno." Lea shrugged. "But I highly doubt that he's behind all this."

"Maybe it's Kadaj's group doing this." Xion thought.

Namine shook her head, "I don't think they're behind this situation either."

"Must be someone of this world who decided that Jack isn't on their favorite list, ans has added his friends into it." Isa theoried.

Lea nodded in agreement, "Yeah, most likely."

Jack thought deeply on what Will told him, not having caught on what the five friends of Sora said, and he suggested, "William, I shall trade you the compass, if you'll help me, to find a key that would find you incopasatorially finding and/or locating in your discovery the detecting of a way to save your dolly belle, ol' what's her face."

The six people who were not part of Jack's crew could only stare at him, and, as Lea and his group had listened, he asked, "You want to find some key?" though he was hoping that it wasn't a Keyblade like Sora had told him a while back after Xemnas's defeat.

"How much do you all know about Davy Jones?" Jack questioned.

Confused such a weirrd question, Roxas replied uncertainly, "Uh, not much?"

"I've heard a bit about him." Lea thought. "He's suppose to be the captain of the flying-crocodile machine or whatever it's called."

"It's the Flying Dutchmen." Isa corrected.

"Right. I knew that." Lea shrugged, with a grin that says that he's pretending that he knew already.

* * *

><p>"So, where are we?" Roxas asked, as they made it to their next destination.<p>

"This is the other side of the island." Gibbs answered. Seeing the horrified expressions on Roxas and Xion's faces, and the worried looks on Namine, Lea and Isa's faces, he quickly added, "Don't worry, the Pelagostas never come to this side of the island."

Before Lea say what he wanted, he noticed that Jack was handing him, Isa and Roxas the oars, and Will demanded, "Why are you giving us the oars?"

"Because I'm Captain of the my Ship, and these two are women. Ladies don't paddle." Jack pointed out, gesturing at himself, and Xion and Namine who both glanced at each other, not getting the idea. Unfortunately, Lea and Isa did, and they and Pintel and Ragetti grumbled at this, knowing that they had to do all the laboring hard work.

They rowed through the river of the deep jungle, and even Isa was starting to see why the cannibals never borthered to take this part of the island either. It was getting dark and it was just as creepy as ever. Xion opted to sit close to Lea who noticed that she looked scared and he smiled softly, wanting to her know that everything will be alright.

"So, how come Jack made you come to this island in the first place?" Roxas asked, "I thought Sora said that Jack loved the ocean."

Gibbs sighed. He knew this would happen. Unfortunately, Jack was the only one, side from Cotton and another crew member, that didn't take notice or interest on this part. So, he began, "Well, if ya believe such things, there's a beast does the bidding of Davy Jones, a fearsome creature with giant tentacles that can suction your face clean off, and drag an entire down into the crushing darkness." he paused dramatically, before saying it's name, "The Kracken." and he was looking disturbed to say this.

Heck, those who were listening were disturbed as well, as Gibbs added, "They say the stench of his breath is like..." before shuddering uncomfortably, before continuing, "And the last thing you know is the roar of the kracken, and the reeking order of a thousand rotting corpses."

Lea gulped at this. "And I thought the cannibals were bad." he muttered. Even he wasn't immune to the story. Come to think of it, he decided that the Kracken was just as worse as a giant heartless. On second thought, the two were in a mix of being the worst things in the multiverse that it was difficult to make out which one was worse.

"And Jack thinks this key he wants will protect him?" Isa asked, a bit skeptically.

"Ah, that's the very question Jack wants answered, bad enough even go to visit her." Gibbs answered, which only confused Lea, Isa, Will, Roxas, Xion and Namine even further. They had no idea who Gibbs was talking about, but they sensed that this woman they were gonna visit was just as bad.

* * *

><p>Once they made it to a small hut deep within the swamp, Jack went inside, with Gibbs, Will, Pintel, Ragetti, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine following, while Marty and Cotton were left to mind the boat. They stepped inside the hut to find a woman with dark skin and dark hair with dreadlocks, and she seemed quite pleased to see Jack again.<p>

"Jack Sparrow." She said slowly.

Jack mirrored the grin, "Tia Dalma." before ducking to avoid a jar with weird things in it hanging from the ceiling.

"I a'ways knew de wind would come and blow ya back ta me one day." Tia Dalma walked up flirtingly, which, while Jack grinned, the rest of the males all looked uncomfortable.

'_Who is this creepy lady?_' Lea thought to himself, too afraid to voice his thoughts. He figured that this woman wasn't to be messed with. No wonder Gibbs was uncomfortable before.

He only noticed that Tia had walked up to him, which caused Lea to flinch in fright, "Whoa! You're fast!"

"Aye, and you, you and your friends, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine, and William Turner, all have a touch of destinies about you, Lea." Tia Dalma says. It made the said six confused and shocked.

Lea's green eyes widened, as he asked, "How'd you know our names?" which made Jack puzzled as well. Ever since he made Sora, the pirate had a feeling that, with that fancy Keyblade of his, Sora was a chosen one, but his five new friends? And about what Will?

"Ya want ta know me?" Tia inquired, which was freaking Lea out even further. In the redhead's mind, this woman was just as worse of a flirt as Larxene was, especially back at Castle Oblivion when he was still Axel.

Jack suddenly stood in between the two of them. "There'll be no knowing here. We came for help and we're not leaving without it." Seemingly jealous that he was no longer the center of attention, he put an arm around Tia Dalma's shoulders and, as he led her away, he told her in a soft voice, "I thought I knew you."

Lea sighed in relief, asking himself, '_Why are women so complicated?_' as he also recalled Tifa's fighting styles, and Aerith's tough moods like a mother would despite the latter's sweet and kind nature. Women; geez, no man would ever understand them.

The group then approached closer, and Tia then inquired to Will and Isa(who also felt uncomfortable), "What service may I do you?" before her tone suddenly changed as she glanced at Jack and said in a somewhat normal tone, "You know I demand payment."

Jack knew this was coming, "I brought payment." before whistling for Pintel to hang him a bird-cage which held the monkey. Jack then said, "Look." holding out his pistol and shot the immortal monkey who shrieked in fright, as Xion and Namine both turned away in fright, while he continued, "An undead monkey! Top that." placing the cage onto the table for Tia Dalma, pleased that he brought her something.

Somewhat sastified, Tia Dalma then unlocked the door and the monkey then scampred away into the back room, much to Gibbs, Ragetti and Pintel's dismays, as the three Pirates grumbled, "No..."

"You've no idea how long it took us to catch that." Gibbs grumbled in annoyance.

"De payment is fair." Tia Dalma replied to Jack and ignored Gibbs' grumble.

It was Roxas who answered Tia's last question, "We were wondering if you knew where the Key Jack's looking for is."

Hearing this, Tia Dalma replied, "Ya know of Davy Jones, yes? A man of de sea, a great sailor, until, 'e run afoul of dat which vex all men."

"What vexes all men?" Will asked.

"What indeed?" asked Tia Dalma.

Xion guessed first, "Um, the ocean?"

"His ship?" Lea shrugged cluelessly.

Th' dichotomy of good and evil?" Ragetti guessed, but his guessed only gave him blank and dumbfounded stares from most of the others.

"A woman." Jack answered.

"A woman." repeated Tia Dalma, still all smiles, "'E fell in love."

Roxas and Isa glanced at each other, the former shrugging, while Namine thought it made sense, and Xion looked up at Lea who shrugged, mentally saying that he had no clue either.

"No, no, no." protested Gibbs, "I 'eard it was the _sea_ 'e fell in love with."

"Same story, different versions and all are true." Tia stated. "You see, it was a woman as changing and harsh and untamable as de sea. 'Im never stop loving her. But de pain it cause 'im was too much to live wid, but not enough to cause him to die."

"What exactly did he put into the chest?" Will asked.

Tia smiled, and she answered, "Him heart."

Lea gasped as he was stunned to hear this, while Ragetti asked, "Lit'rally or figuratively?"

"He coul'n't li'rally put 'is 'eart in a chest." Pintel pointed out, before he looked at Tia and asked, uncertainly, "Could 'e?"

"So he's a heartless, but at the same time, remained in his original form, and without a Nobody." Isa whispered to Lea who nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like something Xehanort would do." Lea whispered in return, now not listening to what else Tia was saying, as he still remembered about what happened eleven years ago.

Even Roxas, Xion and Namine were too stunned to hear what else the voodoo woman was saying as the three teens all looked at each other, all thinking about how much Xehanort and Davy Jones had in common, but with different goals. What Davy Jones's goal was, none of them knew, and they didn't want to know.

It wasn't until Tia sharply told Jack, "Let me see your hand." that the five of them realised that Jack was planning on leaving, the conversation having come to an end.

Jack turned back rather nervously and extended his right hand, hopefully. But Tia Dalma didn't buy it. In annoyance and rolling his eyes, Jack put out his left hand and she began unwrapping the cloth from his hand. When the cloth fell away from his hand, it revealed the ugly black spot that clearly marked Jack as a wanted man.

"Black Spot!" cried Gibbs when he saw it, before he brushed himself and turned around three times. Pintel and Ragetti, getting the idea, did the same thing.

"What the hell is that?" Lea asked, getting a bad feeling from the ugly and disgusting spot. But Gibbs didn't answer.

"My eyesight's just as good as ever, just so you know." Replied Jack, while Tia went into the back to hunt for something.

When she returned, she told the Pirate captain, "Davy Jones cannot make port, cannot step on land but once every ten years. Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow, and so you will carry land wid you." holding out a jar of something.

Nervously, Jack took it, only for his expression to change into a blank dumbfoundment, and it was echoed by Lea, Isa and Roxas, as the three all raised an eyebrow in confusion. Xion and Namine also held blank expressions.

"Dirt." Jack muttered, "This is a jar of dirt."

"Yes." Tia nodded, as if not understanding what the problem was, as she was confused of Jack's expression.

Still uncertain, Jack asked, "Is the jar of dirt going to help?"

"If ya don't want it, give it back."

Jack clutched the jar lighter to him. "No." he may not have known what purpose it could serve, but if Tia Dalma said it did, he wasn't going to give it up.

Tia Dalma smiled approvingly. "Den it helps."

When the others looked at him, Jack held it away from them, as if it was his baby. Lea, Roxas and Isa rolled their eyes at this, while Xion and Namine giggled.

Tia then took crab claws and shook them, causing Xion to ask Jack, "What is she doing?"

"She's reading the crab claws." Jack answered, "That should help us find the Flying Dutchment." before Tia told him where the Flying Dutchment was.

With that, the group thanked Tia Dalma and exited the hut.

"Well, I guess we should get goin'." Lea declared.

Will turned back and asked, "You're not coming with us?"

"Nah." Lea shrugged, "My friends and I wanna make our own way back. Besides, we have important stuff to do, and I seriously don't wanna meet this heartless pirate-guy anyway." which his best friends nodded in agreement.

"No worries, mates." Jack stated. "They're friends with Sora, and they can handle things by themselves. Savvy? We handle our problem, they handle theirs." confidently.

Even though he had a feeling that something was about to go wrong, Roxas nodded and said, "Right, and we'll say hi to Sora for you."

The Pirates thanked them, before they rowed away, and Lea lead his friends into a deep part of the jungle. Once he knew that there wasn't anyone else around, he sighed, and says, "Let's go."

Or, so he thought that there wasn't anyone else around.

"You must seek de' answers first, before making to your destination." a familair voice says, causing the five of them to turn and noticed that Tia Dalma had stepped out as well and had followed them.

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?" Lea gasped in surprise.

"De man you long defeated, he will return." Tia Dalma replied, before she walked away and then disappeared back into her hut, confusing Lea and his friends even further.

"That is the creepiest woman I've ever met." Isa grumbled.

"What did she mean by that?" Roxas asked, confused on what was going on.

Namine then thought, "Maybe she wants us to visit other worlds Sora has been, ones where Xehanort caused a few problems, before we head over to Disney Castle."

"So, we visit the other worlds first before we get the answers that we want?" Xion thought.

Lea sighed, "Well, as much as I hate the idea of wasting time, I don't think there's much of an optain. Besides, now that it's mentioned, I'm kinda worried that Braig and that silver-haired kid and Kadaj's gang might be causin' a few problems." ruffling the back of his head, messing up his red hair.

"You're right." Namine nodded, "I can sense that King Mickey and the others might know about this and are already trying to figure out what to do."

"And I'd want to redeem myself by helping out others before I see Sora and his friends again." Isa admitted, "I know that they won't be happy to see me again."

"Ah, don't sweat it." Lea said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder to comfort him. "I had the same feeling as you're feeling, and they're okay now. Trust me."

Seeing that his friend was serious, Isa nodded, "Right. I'll try."

"So, I guess we can go now, right?" Xion asked.

"Yup. Now we can go." Lea declared, summoning a corridor of darkness, and the five of them walked into it and continued their adventure of redemption and seeking out answers.

Even if those answers will lead to more questions and unexpected situations.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I want to get as many chapters in as I can in this story before the end of 2014. So, if you guys don't mind, I'll keep saying "Happy New Year" until the new year starts. Please continue your great reviews!**


	10. Mark of Mastery and A Party in Agrabah?

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Be prepared! For more unexpected twists are coming in this chapter and more ahead! Remember, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH10: Mark of Mastery and...A Party in Agrabah?<strong>_

_**A day earlier...**_

_Sora and Riku, both having been brought to the mysterious tower by King Mickey, Donald and Goofy, stood before the powerful sorcerer Yen Sid, who, a long time ago, was a Keyblade Master, but had since retired, and he passed down his title to Mickey instead. The wise sorcerer sat at his desk, with Mickey, Donald and Goofy behind him, as he explained things to the two young Keyblade wielders._

_"As a Keyblade Master, Xehanort had a gift like few others. But such great minds are often plagued by a single great question." says Yen Sid, "What is the essence of the human heart that weakens us, or empowers us? The answer, he believed, would be found in the "Keyblade War." What if the challenges of our past were, in fact, a map to the light and darkness that battles within us all? Xehanort had to know, so he renounced his duties as master and chose the seeker's life. Since then, in many a guise, he has clashed with protectors of the light-Keyblade wielders like yourselves."_

_He paused, before continuing, "And mark my words-he will trouble us yet again. We must be ready." he gazed at Sora and Riku deeply, and stated, "Which is why you, Sora and Riku, are to be tested for the mark of a true Keyblade Master. No _

_doubt you fancy yourselves masters already, but it takes years of training. Only a true master can teach you the proper way. Both of you are self-taught Keyblade wielders-an impressive feat. However, the time has come for you to let go of preconceived notions, forget what you know about the Keyblade, and begin your training again with a clean slate."_

_At this, Sora, Mickey, Donald and Goofy were shocked by this. Sora had already lost his memories back at Castle Oblivion. Now he has to lose his current memories again?_

_"But that's a formality, right?" Sora pointed out, "I already proved myself. Me and the king, and Riku-we can take on anything. Right, Riku?"_

_Despite Sora's confidence, Riku was doubtful. "I don't know.I think that in my heart, darkness still has a hold. Walking that path changed me. I'm not sure if I'm ready to wield a Keyblade. Maybe I do need to be tested."_

_Seeing this, Sora realised that his best friend was still worried about the darkness inside his heart. He then had an idea. If he could at least help his best friend pass the test, then Sora will be fine whether he himself would pass as well or not. At this point, Sora didn't care._

_"Then count me in!" Sora declared, "Just watch-me and Riku will pass with flying colors!"_

_Seeing the confindence in Sora's eyes, and that he could also sense that the boy really wants to help Riku, Yen Sid nods. "Very well, then. Sora and Riku, let your examination begin."_

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Back in the Present...Inside the Realm of Sleep...<strong>_

Sora sighed, having recalled that memory. Since coming into the Realm of Sleep as part of his Mark of Mastery, Sora lost track of Riku, having gained strange new clothes, and right now, was in his forth world to awaken from sleep. Sora's new clothing after entering the new realm strongly resembled to his real ones in the Realm of Light, except that his gloves were like his old ones when he was fourteen years old, but in black with yellow stripes, his jacket had blue hooks instead of yellow, gold lining on the bottom of his sleeves instead of whtie, his shorts and pockets swapped colours(shorts being red and pockets being black with white stripes), and his shoes resembling to his old ones at fourteen but with black on the back. He also had some kind of symbolized O on his shirt that acted as a belt.

He helped a young man named Quasimodo to save his friends and defeat the Nightmare Dream Eaters and Frollo, and was right now inside the Chruch, staring up at the statue.

"All that time, Quasimodo let himself be trapped inside the nightmares Frollo gave him." Sora says to himself. He felt sorry for him, and it reminded him of Riku.

He decides that it's time to leave, but as he turned to step outside, an unfamiliar man, in a red coat and ginger hair, blue eyes and seemingly wielding a crimson sword appeared, and to Sora's shock, the man had a single black wing, just like Sephiroth's, but instead of being a right-side wing, this man had a left-side wing. He's seen him before, back in Traverse Town with Riku, and the sleeping people of Zidane, Garnet, Serah and Lightning, along with someone who calls himself Warrior of Light.

Unknown to Sora, this man is Genesis.

"You seem to be getting closer towards understanding hurt." Genesis smirked, before quoting, "_The wandering soul knows no rest_."

Sora got into defense, not trusting this guy at all. "You again! What are you talking about?" he demanded, but then, for a split second, he saw an unfamiliar yet people woman with long hair tied up in a stylied pony-tail, and as she and Genesis both said at the same time, "Even though one of those that need you is always with you." before the woman vanished.

The sixteen year old was stunned and confused. For a split second, Sora could've sworn, the woman's face, although very gentle, kind and somewhat looking sad, she somehow resembled to a female version of Sephiroth.

"_My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow. No matter where the wind may blow_." Genesis quoted again as he walked passed a bewildered Sora, before stating, "You do resemble to Zack. However, perhaps you and Cloud both share similiar paths, except that you're the more, luckier one."

Before Sora could ask about his friends, Genesis disappeared into a mixture of light and darkness, causing Sora to ask himself, "How does he know about Cloud? And who's Zack?" before he noticed a light glowing and shining, getting brighter. He looked up and sees a Keyhole, and realises that the time has come to awaken this world now.

Summoning his Kingdom Key-Keyblade, Sora held it up and with a beam of light, he seals the keyhole, which opens up a portal to his next destination. As Sora allowed the light to engulf him, he mentally asked himself, '_One of those people I have to save is already with me?_'

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back in the Realm of Light, in the passage of the worlds, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine were about to discuss on where to go do if not their desired destination, when ahead of them, and to their shock, was a familiar man in a pony tail and an eye-patch, one that neither of them wanted to see.<p>

"Oh, so the rescue squad and the pour-soul with the puppet and witch are on a mission?" Braig mocked, surprisingly not at all surprised to see Xion or Namine again.

"You again!?" Lea shocked, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh nothing for you to worry about." Braig shrugged it off, with a grin as his single eye glimmered evilly at them. "If you wanna catch me, you'd better start chasing." before turning and headed towards the exit which lead to the next world.

"Hey wait!" Roxas called out.

Without second thought, the group quickly gave chase to go after the villian, one that they knew that they would never have trusted within the Organization, with Lea shouting, "Get back here, Braig!"

* * *

><p>However, when the five of them raced out of the corridor of darkness, Roxas, Lea, Isa, Namine and Xion skid to a stop, and looked around, only to discover that they entered another world, and that they were at the front gates of a Palace without a crowd of people noticing. Everything around them seemed to be decorated for a special event, though, but the group didn't pay any mind to that for now.<p>

"Man, we lost him!" Roxas grumbled.

"That guy is just as sneaky as Even was." Lea sighed, glancing around in case of an ambush. So far, the annoying one-eyed enemy isn't around.

On the other hand, Isa had a different point of view, as he asked, "What...is going on here?" getting the others' attentions, as they all looked around the corner and noticed that something very special was happening. They finally noticed what was going on, and decided to see what's going on. At the gates of the Palace, the captain of the guards, Razoul, was standing there, arms crossed and looking decidedly grumpy today.

"Yo," Lea greeted casually with an hand raised for a hello, much to Isa's annoyance. The redhead hasn't changed much. "What's going on here?"

"Our Princess is to wed." Razoul muttered sourly.

Taking a good look at the Palace, the group realised that they were in Agrabah, the home of one of the Princesses of Heart's, Princess Jasmine. It then dawned to them that she was getting married today, and Roxas and Xion glanced at each other. Boy poor Sora was missing this.

"Well, congratulations to the princess." Isa said, before inquiring, "Who's the prince?"

"Not a prince at all!" Razoul snapped, "Just a no account street-rat."

"You mean Aladdin?" Roxas corrected.

"How do you you?" the guard asked sharply.

Xion then answered kindly, "We're friends of Sora who once helped in protecting and is a good friend to Princess Jasmine." with the others nodding to comfirm it.

The larger man eyed on them supiciously, but, having heard several rumors about this 'Sora', he sighed, having also known that Sora is also one of Jasmine's friends and is very loyal and brave, like a guard. In defeat, Razoul says, "Very well, you may all enter the Palace for the wedding, since you all know the Princess and her future husband."

"Thank you, sir." Roxas smiled warmly.

"A wedding, huh?" Lea thought curiously. "I can't wait until it's Sora's turn with Kairi." he joked as he followed his friends into the palace gates and into the palace. Razoul caught on what Lea just said and was dumbfounded, before he shrugged.

* * *

><p>As the group entered the pavilion and gathered up with the gathered crowd for the wedding, the travelling five were amazed at how many people there were, and up near the altar where Aladdin and Jasmine will finally be blessed together forever, and soon, the Princess of Heart would be the future queen of Agrabah, but would still remain as her Kingdom Hearts title, or, if that sounded right. Aladdin was already dressed in an outfit similiar to his Prince Ali uniform.<p>

Unexpectedly, Genie, the one Roxas and Xion both recongised, both in their mission in this world and in Sora's memories, appeared by Aladdin's side, saying in distrught, "Bad news Al, the boutonnières clash with the cumber buns!" He held out a white boutonnière and a brown cumber bun.

"Uh, Genie?" Aladdin whispered uncertainly and pointed out, "isn't it a little late for that?"

"What, what are you trying to say? Out with it! What, what…" Genie paused as he noticed the crowd, and chuckled sheepishly, saying, in a faint sing-song tone, "They're he-e-ere." before glancing at a stop-watch and screamed in dismay, "OH NO-HO-HO-HO!" before turning into a white rabbit, which Lea and his group were shocked to recongise as the white rabbit in Wonderland.

Genie ran down the isle, yelling, "I'm late; I'm late, for a very important date!" before he went out the doors and then quickly came right back out in a suit. The group were stunned by this crazy antic, and Roxas almost forgot that this is how the Genie always acted. Xion surpressed a giggle, Namine was already softly giggling, and Isa looked at Lea, whispering, "Is he always like this?"

Lea shrugged cluelessly, replying, "You're asking the wrong guy." before Genie blew on the horn, annoucning that the ceremony is about to start. A small monkey, thankfully this time, Roxas recongised as Abu, a more friendlier and fun monkey, ran down the isle and onto the magic Carpet. Shortly after this, three beautiful bridemaids walked down the isle, throwing flower pedels on the ground, followed by a boy carrying a flag. Lea couldn't help but let out a soft but low whistle as he gazed at the three bridesmaids, clearly interested. Isa shook his head with a smirk. Lea hasn't changed a single bit. He still had a thing about pretty ladies.

Then, carried on a throne by four guards, was a small tubby man, clearly the Sultan, and many people, including Lea and his friends who quickly caught on, all bowed, all saying, "You're majesty, your highness!" though in Namine's eyes, the Sultan seemed to be a very friendly person. Thankfully, the Sultan didn't notice the five friends of his daughter's friend, Sora. For now, anyway.

The guards got to the end and set down the throne; the Sultan ran off it and to the pavilion. Aladdin bowed when he reached him. Roxas smiled, whispering, "Too bad Sora is missing all this."

"Then we better tell him the next time we see him." Xion suggested.

"Oh look, it's a Kodiak moment!" Genie said happily, before out of nowhere, a bear appeared, roaring, before Genie shoved(comically) it away back to nonexistance, and ordered in annoyance, "Put that bear out of here!"

Shortly after this, with a wave of his hands, a long white carpet appeared that was lead by doves; it covered the whole isle. Everyone then turned to the doors, and noticed a pair of peacocks standing in front of it, before their feathers contracted and revealed the Princess of this world-Jasmine in a very beautiful white wedding dress, and she smiled shyly. Jasmine was in a long, traditional, white dress with gold fringe, and a veil that flowed behind her. Everyone's eyes widened in amazement.

"Whoa..." Lea gapped. He was completely stunned at just how gorgeus Jasmine looked. He then let's out a long, low whistle.

Isa was speechless.

"She's beautiful." Xion and Namine said together.

"Ahh..." Roxas's eyes were wide, amazed, as he softly admitted, "I've never seen anyone so beautiful before."

As Jasmine walked down the isle, not noticing anyone but her father and her soon-to-be-husband. Joining her father, the Sultan then admitted, sounding like he's about to cry, "I never thought this day would come. Now I'm afraid that it has come all too soon."

Jasmine hugged her father, "Oh father."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the back of the Palace where Camels and Elephants are, forty thieves are there, and, on top of everything else, although he wasn't part of the group, Braig had joined them after convincing Cassim and Sa'luk that he too wants to cause problems, and now where making plans to cause an attack during the ceremony.<p>

"You distract the guards." Cassim ordered as he walked over towards an Elephant.

Braigh quirked an eye-brow, "And what's a part of your plan?"

"The large part." was Cassim's answer as he pats the Elephant's trunk, before he walked over to the baskets that were hooked onto each camel, knocking on the baskets, muttering, "It's time."

Then, one by one, thirty-eight thieves emerged from the baskets, either by breaking free and smashing the baskets or just simply climbing out, and now, the thieves were about to get ready for the attack. In the meantime, Cassim climbed onto the top of the palivion without anyone inside knowing, and using his sword to have the sun's reflection give out a gleam by angling it.

At the bottom, Sa'luk saw the signal, and, while he hated Cassim's guts, he chuckled, since he had to admit, Cassim was no fool when it comes to signals. He then approached Braig and a fat Thief who were both trying and trailing to push an Elephant to move, with Braig cursing, "C'mon and move, you big, fat, stupid lump of saggy-baggy skin!"

Sa'luk just shoves both of the men aside, and says in suggestion, "Let me be the _point_ man!" and with a force, he shoved and stabbed his claws onto the back of the Elephant who yelped and screamed in pain, before it charged straight towards the pavilion, eyes all red in pained anger.

* * *

><p>Once Aladdin and Jasmine were together, they both walked up to the altar, and everyone smiled at this, while Genie, becoming easily emotional, was saying to himself, "It's all so magical. I'm not gonna cry. I'm not…" then a second later, he hysterically cried with water-works as he bursted into tears, unknowingly grabbed hold of carpet and like a tissue, he blew his nose onto the poor magic carpet, before he realised who he got, and let's go of the now wet carpet.<p>

"Oh, sorry." said Genie in embarrasment.

Roxas and his friends noticed while, and Lea was trying so hard not to burst into an hysterical laughter at the sight, covering his mouth with is right hand, his shoulders shaking in an uncontrolable laughther. Isa had to turn away, smirking and shaking both his hands and his head, eyes closed as he too tried not to laugh. Xion and Namine tried to focus on Aladdin and Jasmine to avoid laughing, and Roxas held onto his stomach, trying not to laugh either.

However, it seemed the moment was crushed as suddenly, the ground started to shake violently, causing the humor in the five of them to cease as they and everyone else all looked around, shocked.

"I thought the earth wasn't supposed to move until the honeymoon…," Genie questionably said.

The Sultan gasped as he was bouncing while he tried to keep his balance, "Oh, oh, my word!" before he ended up falling onto the ground.

"What's going on now?" Roxas asked.

Lea's eyes widened in shock as he stared out at the pillers of the pavilion and he muttered, "Here comes your answer!" as everyone including his best friends turned to see, a herd of Elephants marching straight towards them, and neither of the Elephants looked at all happy. In fact, they were red-eyed furious!

Genie, turning into a cowboy, screamed, "STAMPEDE!" and in instant, the pillers were crushed and destroyed, and several of the guests, in fear and confusion, all screamed and scampered, running for their lives while trying to avoid the Elephants. Lea and the others got out of the way as well, quickly looking instead there were heartless around, summoning their weapons.

Lea then noticed that one of the Elephants was approaching the altar where Jasmine and Aladdin and he quickly leaped there and pulled the couple out of the way just in time as the altar was being destroyed.

"Thanks." Aladdin said, before asking, "And, who're you?"

"Name's Lea. Got it Memorized?" Lea replied, "Friend of Sora; long story."

In a meantime, Xion noticed that another Elephant was heading towards Abu and she quickly snatched the small monkey out of the way just in time while also avoiding getting stepped on herself. "Are you okay?" she asked to the small monkey who nodded.

"It looks like an attack!" Isa stated, and to confirm his fears, the thieves had arrived, preventing anyone from leaving by forcing them back inside when they tried to escape, threating them with weapons.

Razoul, seeing this, growled, "Not in _this_ Palace!"

Getting the hint, Roxas summoned his Oblivion Keyblade and immediately rushed over and clashed against a couple of thieves before he leaped away and chanted, "Freeze!" and his blizzard attack he learned from Sora and Merlin instantly froze the three thieves, only leaving their heads unfrozen, but they were chattering their teeth since they were literally frozen.

Namine, also having learned magic skills, chanted fire-spells she learned from Lea and caught one thief's butt on fire, causing him to scream repeatedly, "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" running around like a headless chicken.

Isa fought against several thieves and with a swing of his Claymore, blew a powerful gust of wind that caused the thieves to go flying and comically crash into the wall, before they fell onto the ground and a chandelier snapped from the ceiling and fell and crashed on top of them. He then sensed that someone was behind him and he moved out of the way just in time to avoid an arrow from another unwanted guest.

"See that you're on the good guys' side now." Braig chuckled, his own weapons at ready.

"Better my friends than you." Isa coldly replied, "And I think it's pay back time." before he chanted a spell he had learned from Namine and Lea during their trip within the corridor, and shouted, "Blizzard!" and though it was a weak one, it was still strong enough that Braig was caught off-guard and only his head was un-frozen.

"That was for trying to kidnap me." Isa stated.

Braig growled softly, "Heh. As if! I'm not gonna stand here and-" before he screamed out, "WHOA! That's _cold!_" now shivering and chattering his teeth.

"Enjoy your Ice Age." Isa joked, before rushing off to continue to help in the battle, much to Braig's dismay.

* * *

><p>As the good fought against the thieves, Sa'luk, approaching two guards, quickly slashed at them, and the two guards, in dumbfounded shock, could only stand there as their swords were easily broken into several pieces and their clothes were comically shreded, before they both covered their many parts which only left them in their turbans, underwear and shoes and they were embarrassed to be like this.<p>

"They fight like demons!" The tubby guard muttered.

His thinner companion added, "Worse then demons! These are the Forty Thieves!" as the thieves continued to steal from the frightened guests.

Lea looked around and having counted, stated, "Really? I only see thirty-nine," before seeing the frozen Braig, and added, "And he doesn't count. He's in his own league." while he had his Chakrams summoned and was fighting as many thieves as he could, dodging their attacks and throwing his weapons at them to make them freak out before catching them like he normally would.

Roxas and Aladdin both glanced around, and, near the treasure table, they noticed a man in blue robes, clearly searching for something, and they instantly knew that he was among the thieves. Both of them then marched towards him, muttering, "Forty."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Cassim was looking for the treasure he had searched for in many years, before he ducked to avoid getting hit by a gold plate, and when he looked, the one who threw it at him was a red parrot-Iago, who was now wielding a golden candle holder like a club, ready to fight to protect the treasure.<p>

"Meet your match, Zorro!" Iago declared.

Seeing the bird, Cassim tried to say to it nicely, "Good birdie. Polly want a little-"

Iago cuts him off by yelling, "Say cracker and I'll let you have it on principle!" before he swung his 'weapon' at Cassim, but it did no damange. Instead, he was grabbed and had his candleholder taken away from him while he struggled.

"You have a lot of spirit." Cassim admitted, before he shoved Iago into a small pot, and added in a tone of irritation, "And a lot of mouth." before he continued his search. Finally, he spotted what he was looking for, and gasped softly, "Ah! At last." and examined it. It was a short golden rob, with some kind of jewel on it. However, before he could finally examine it, he was knocked off his feet and the rod was gone.

When he looked up, the rod was now with Aladdin and Roxas who both stood there, Roxas having his Keyblade ready. "Can I see your invitation?" asked Aladdin.

"Stay out of my way boys and you won't get hurt." Cassim growled as he grabbed a statue of an Egyptian cat that stood nearby and threw it at them. They dodged, and Roxas tried to slash at Cassim who grabbed his rigth wrist, preventing the Keyblade wielder from attacking, and shoved him onto the ground.

"Fool!" Cassim growled dangerously, "You don't stand a chance against the King of Thieves!"

"When I get up, I'll bow to you!" Roxas shouted as he kicked Cassim into the stomach.

The King of Thieves then pulled out his sword and he clashed against both Roxas and Aladdin who also grabbed his sword and a three-man sword-fight began.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Namine was now joined by Xion as they were about to fight a Thief who grinned evilly at them, no doubt wanting to take them due to being young girls. However, someone tabbed onto his shoulder behind him, and when he looked, Jasmine gave him a good hard punch in the face, and he collasped, knocked out, down and out. "That was for ruining my wedding!" Jasmine stated in anger to the thief.<p>

Xion and Namine were stunned, as where some of the other thieves, Lea, and Isa, and even Braig who was starting to thaw out, and he was stunned. "Geez, and I thought Kairi was the only Princess of Heart that was scary and tough." the former guard of Radiant Garden muttered. He still remembered, as his time as Xigbar, that Kairi was now not only a Princess of Heart, but a newly made Keyblade wielder as well, and she wasn't not to be messed with.

To men like him, it just proves that even the more sweetest and prettiest girls can be as scary as an ogre. No really, it's true.

Xion then blocked two more thieves attacks and she knocked them away, causing them to be knocked onto the ground, only for Carpet, who was waiting for this, fly away and flip the two thieves into the air and collaspe back onto the ground, defeated.

* * *

><p>In the meantime, Lea noticed three thieves trying to escape with bags of treasure, and he quickly leaped and landed in front of them, weapons ready as he smirked at them, saying, "And where do you think you three are going?" chuckling. The thieves started taunting him, the Aisian thief doing kung-fu stance, the knife thief threating with his knives, and the fat thief chuckling. But Lea wasn't fazed even the slightest, instead his smirk grew, as he held out his Chakrams, and casted fire onto them which grew larger, showing them that he could easily burn them into crisp if he wanted to. Not to mention that the blades on his favorite weapons were just as sharp as normal knives.<p>

Seeing this, and gasping in horror, the thieves screamed and ran for their lives. They seriously didn't want to get burned!

"Ha! Wusses!" Lea laughed, before he turned around to see a giant Genie pick up a nearby Elephant, and to the redhead's confused shock, the Genie was going to use the Elephant as a blower, pointing it's trunk at the Thieves.

"Freeze sandbags!" Genie shouted. Air blew out of its trunk and blew the thieves away, "Don't make me use the other end!" and the triplet thieves stood there, shocked before they were comically blown away one by one, before the poor exhausted Elephant deflated and Genie gently placed it on the ground, before he pointed his finger and blasted two thieves in the rear end. He then turned into Forrest Gump, saying, "Mama always said '_magic is as magic does_'."

Now that Braig was thawed but still shivering from the cold, he growled angerily as he realised that thanks to his enemies' meddling, his plans here in Agrabah is ruined. "Great, time for a retreat, but I'll take a look around Agrabah none the less." before he leaped away, coming with a 'Plan-B', and is not noticed by the Forty Thieves.

"Cassim said nothing about facing the powers of a Genie, and that Braig said nothing about facing the might of two Keyblade bearers and their three friends!" Sa'luk shouted, before he ordered to a nearby thief, "Get the others out of here, we'll leave the _King_ to his plans."

* * *

><p>As for Cassim, he finally grabbed hold of the rod and attempted to flee, but Roxas grabbed hold of his legs and caused the King of Thieves to fall again, once again wrestling, before Roxas accidently kicked a vase which was the one that held Iago, and it broke onto a wall, freeing the dazed Parrot. Aladdin tried to wrestle for the treasure as well, before an Elephant came crashing through the wall and towards them. Immediately, Aladdin grabbed the treasure and he, Roxas and Cassim rolled out of the way just in time as the Elephant goes outside.<p>

Roxas and Aladdin both stood up, and looked around, noticing that one man is missing.

"Where's the King of Thieves?" Aladdin asked.

"He got away." Roxas realised.

* * *

><p>And Cassim did escape, as he had hitched a ride on the Elephant before letting go and onto the ground, looking at the ruins of the Pavillion, muttering, "I'll see you again, boys." before making his escape.<p>

* * *

><p>Back inside, the last of the pillers crumbled and were destroyed. Genie, realising this, became worried and embarrassed, before stating his innocences, "This is not my fault! This was not builto code!" as the Pavillion is completely destroyed, and the wedding is ruined.<p>

At least the Fory Thieves left empty handed.

**A/N: Please review if you have time, and this may be the last chapter of 2014, or the next chapter, but this story is not over yet. I will finish it some time in January 2015. Happy New Year guys!**


	11. Questions and Unexpected Answers

**Second Life**

**Author's note: **_**HAAAAAPPPPYYYY NEW YEAR **_**EVERYONE! It's now officially 2015! Man, time flies. To celebrate, I'm posting a new chapter to oen of my stories, which is this one! The others will follow, so don't worry. In the meantime, let's continue our adventure, and remember, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH11: Questions and Unexpected Answers.<strong>_

Once the Forty Thieves were gone, everyone looked around in shock and desbelief. The wedding that was supposed to happen and to be a wonderful day turned into a nightmare and that the wedding is ruined and thus, in this case, further delayed due to the damange. The Pavilion was completely destroyed, several gifts were most likely broken, and those who fought to protect the Kingdom were exhausted, and the Sultan was dismayed.

As for Iago, well, he was just annoyed as usual. For him, it was just one of those days for the red annoying parrot. He was on the Sultan's shoulder while the said man was looking around in despair.

"Good luck gettin' back the catering department." said Iago, before he flew away, as Jasmine, Xion and Namine joined the Sultan.

"Oh my." Sultan muttered.

Xion, shocked at the destruction, asked, "Isn't there anyway to fix this?"

Suddenly, Genie, hanging upside-down like a bat(or Possum), appeared and says, "Fear not, little lady! We can rebuild!" before he poofed back on the ground, and turned into a construction worker with a muscular chest, before it fell and dropped into a beer-gut. Mildly disappointed, Genie then shrugs to himself, before he suggested, "Maybe it's time to put in that swimming pool."

"Actually, please just fix it." Xion giggled, shaking her head. She recalled during her time inside Sora that Genie wanted to make a freeway or something in Agrabah.

"Good grief, you people have no imagination." Genie sighed, before he brings out a clipboard and a pencil, saying, "All right, a wedding pavilion it is, my man." before he casted magic on Iago, Abu and Carpet who all turned into construction workers, with Iago eating a dougnut, Abu drinking coffee, and Carpet reading a newspaper.

Genie then whispered to Xion, Namine and the Sultan, "Hey, I want to see some resumes on these guys. And don't let the one with the beak near any power tools."

While the two girls shrugged at each other, Sultan nodded, before turning to his daughter, "I am sorry about all this, Jasmine." only to find that the young Princess wasn't around. "Daughter?"

Seeing this, Xion and Namine agreed to go and look for her, and looked around, easily finding Jasmine near the treasure table, with Aladdin, Roxas, Lea and Isa.

"What were they after, the gifts?" Jasmine asked, trying to hide her disappointment that her wedding day is ruined and delayed until everything is fixed up. So, she tried to turn her concern to the attackers.

"Not all of them." Roxas answered as he gazed at the strange rod in his hand. "I think the King of Thieves wanted this." as Lea approached him.

"Mind if I take a look?" Lea asked, and at his friend's nod, the redhead carefully took the rod and examined it. He then stated, "Looks pretty useless, if you ask me."

"With all the other great stuff, why go for this thing?" Iago asked as he landed onto Lea's shoulder.

The red-haired man shrugged, "Don't know." before gazing at the emerald stone, and softly asked, mostly to himself, "What could that guy want with this?"

Not a second later as soon as he asked this, the rod's stone suddenly glowed in light, which scared him. "Whoa!" he exclaimed in fright, as he suddenly lets go of the rod which it hovered away from them before stopping in the centre of the room, and a strange woman's voice echoed, "Your question is mine to answer!" while everyone tried to shieled their eyes from the light.

At that moment, a spirital form of a woman in a white robe and headress appeared above the rod, very much like a ghost, as she answered Lea's question, "The King of Thieves sought my sight to find the Ultimate Treasure."

Everyone in the room gasped, as Iago then asked, excitedly curious, "Did someone say treasure?" and the woman replied, "Yes."

"Genie?" Aladdin asked, uncertainly. He's seen strange things before, but this is was another new thing to him, and only his blue-skinned friend can answer most of these strange legendary things.

"Ooh, looks like Oracle!" says Genie in awe.

"Oracle?" Roxas asked to the Genie, before turning to the apparently Oracle and asked, "So, um, how'd you know about what happened?"

The Oracle explained, "I see all that has been, and all that will be."

"So she knows about the past and the future." Isa thought.

Lea blinked, as he crossed his arms, and chuckled, "Whoa, there. So that means you know who we are and wants going on, right?"

And a second later, Iago also asked, "Okay, you know all, so tell all. Where is the treasure? You know, the ultimate one?"

"I am bound by the rule of one. One question, one answer." The Oracle says, to both Lea and Iago.

Seeing this, and realising that his question that was mainly to himself in thought, was still a question, and Lea sighed, disappointed that he already wasted his chance to ask about what's going on, now that the Oracle is helpful, but is unhelpul now as well. "Damn it." he muttered to himself, irritated. "It was worth a shot."

Iago on the other hand, was just as stupid as usual, as he shouted, "I only want one answer! Where is the Ultimate Treasure?"

"Don't borther, polly." Lea sighed, having also heard Iago's earlier question. "You already asked about that, and you asked if somebody just say treasure and she answered yes."

"You mean before?" Iago asked as he flew up to the red-haired man, before staying unconvincingly, "Oh, that wasn't a question! That was uh... thinking out loud." before Genie suddenly grabbed him.

"Very loud!" Genie said in annoyance, before letting the bird go. Isa smirked at this and shook his head.

Roxas also realised that he too wasted his question, and sighed, "I should've just saved a question for what I really wanted to ask, like about why Xion and I are seeing Ventus' memories and not Sora's, or who that man who attacked Ventus is."

"Or that other boy in the mask." Xion added.

"Or about that X-Blade thingy." Lea agreed.

"Who's Ventus?" Aladdin asked to the trio.

Isa was the one who answered, "Someone who Lea and I met twelve years ago when the two of us were teenagers."

"He's also one of the people Sora is the one to rescue." Lea added, quickly adding, "That is a very long and complicated story."

"Aladdin," Jasmine says to her husband-to-be, "We could learn anything. About our lives, our future."

"You have but to ask." says to Oracle wisely.

Aladdin pointed out, "I know what my future is." he turned to Jasmine and added, "My future is you." before looking at the ceiling, adding, "But my past, is blank."

"What do you mean?" Roxas asked.

"My mother died when I was a little kid." Aladdin answered, staring at the dagger that was left by his parents, and added, "And I never even knew even knew my father. I don't even know where I come from."

Lea sighed as he held a hand onto his forehead, before looking at Aladdin and said, "Knowing the truth won't change anything, ya know? About, where you come from, I mean. If anything, that just makes the situation a lot worse in the end. There are questions that can never be answered, because not everyone knows the answers to those questions."

He should know, because Roxas and Xion both questioned about their existances back in the Organization, and, despite Axel trying to protect them and keep them safe from disappearing, he failed because they both left, and fufilled DiZ's wishes to awaken Sora from his slumber, before the final battle against Xemnas, which resulted Axel being recompleted as Lea, Sora and Kairi's hearts and his wishes restoring Roxas and Xion into existance and turning the two of them and Namine into complete human beings with hearts of their own.

"The young man speaks the truth," the Oracle agreed, "However, your questions are your choices. But remember the rule of one; choose carefully."

"Oh sure," Iago grumbled, rolling his eyes, "Mr. Fire-head and the Oracle warn Al' about the one question thing." before he was kicked away by an annoyed Carpet who had enough of his compliants for at least a week.

"I just don't know." Aladdin sighed, before admitting, "My past isn't just one question. That's a million questions."

"Sometimes it's better to try and figure it out yourself." Roxas says, before admitting, "At least, I tried to."

The Oracle seemed to know beyond that, because she said, "Ah, but mere questions about what you seek and about your past can only be answered by those who are lost by Xehanort, and by your father."

Aladdin's eyes widened in shock, as he turned around, exclaiming, "My father?" but how was that possible? His father died when he was young. But it that's true...

To everyone's shock, as the Oracle spread out her arms, an image appeared, of a man well into his late forties, black hair and graying temples, with a moustache and goatee, wearing a block coat. Everyone examined him carefully, their eyes widening as they realised that he strongly resembled to an older version of Aladdin.

One good look at the man, and Aladdin instantly knew, in disbelief, about who this man is. "My father's alive..." he trailled off, in shock.

Lea sighed. "Yup. I knew this would happen."

* * *

><p>Later that night, Aladdin, with the help of the Oracle, left to find his father who was apparently captured by the Forty Thieves, with Iago and Abu with him, while Lea, Isa and Roxas went to the streets of Agrabah before going out into the desert to find Braig. Jasmine already told the guards to look out for a man in an eye-patch, scar on the side of his face and a red-scarf, which they patrolled the city. Xion and Namine remained with Jasmine and the Genie back at the Palace.<p>

They followed the trail of the Forty thieves as part of their clue, as Lea, Isa and Roxas stopped near a cliff that over-looked the ocean, and another island. While they were looking carefully for Braig, down below, Roxas gasped and pointed at something. Looking at what the young blonde was seeing, Lea and Isa saw the Forty Thieves, and, hiding behind a rock near the enemies, were Aladdin, Iago, Abu and Carpet. Crouching to avoiding being seen, the trio watched.

"If they're just standing there, perhaps their secret base is on that island." Isa whispered.

"Yeah, probably." Lea muttered in a whisper. "Wouldn't surprise me if there was a secret door or something."

"Are they gonna swim on those horses?" Roxas asked softly.

As if to answer that, the King of Thieves, on his horse, went up the edge of the water, and shouted out, "Open Sesame!"

Then the sea started churning starting at the point where the ocean water met the rocky island. The earth trembled underfoot and a high crack appeared in the side of the island. The waters split apart at this crack and separated. In seconds there was a path of sea bed leading to the very base of the island with high walls of salt water on either side.

Instantly, the Forty Thieves rushed down the path toward the new opening in the rock. It seemed to be glowing. The moment the last one entered the walls of water began to fall into the opening that they had formed. Shortly after this, Aladdin and his group quickly followed on carpet, making Lea and his group worry that Aladdin wouldn't make it, but thankfully, he made it just as the walls closed. Lea's group sighed in relief.

"Well, it's up to Al' to save his old man now." Lea stated.

But before any of them could continue the conversation, Lea suddenly sensed something, sharply turned around and demanded, "Who's there?" causing Isa and Roxas to turn around as well. Standing, the three of them looked to see who the sudden intruder is, or rather, are. Or maybe is.

It was the silver-haired youth from before, who says, "The darkness inside your hearts are the reason for the unexpected connections."

"You again?" Roxas snapped, "What are you doing here?" before he gasped as suddenly, for a few seconds, a figure that looked like Sora but with black hair and yellow eyes that matched the youth's, stood there, and he was wearing the same uniform the boy in the mask in his nightmare appeared.

"Even if you are Sora's darkness but with Ventus' light." said the Silver-haired youth and the raven-haired boy who was gone the moment he appeared. Roxas blinked on confusion, while Lea and Isa narrowed their eyes.

The silver-haired youth walked passed them, adding, "Soon, everything will fade back to where it all belongs; into nothing, forever, just as it should always be." before he disappeared into the portal of darkness. This left the trio puzzled and confused.

"Sora's darkness and Ventus's light?" Roxas asked to himself. "What did he mean?"

"He was probably trying to mess with your head, Rox'." Lea stated, approaching the teen. "Don't let it get to you. Got it memorized?"

"If he does have a head." Another familiar voice spoke out, causing Lea, Roxas and Isa to turn again, and their target was standing there, cocky as usual, as Braig continued, "So you think Roxy is his own being now? As if! All what Sora did was make himself whole and created a nobody of somebody Xehanort's looking for, but that'll come when the time's right."

"Shut up!" Isa shouted, summoning his claymore, while Lea summoned his chakrams and Roxas summoned his Keyblade, all ready to fight if they have to.

This only made Braig mock with a grin, "Oh! So you all really don't know what's really going on? Roxas and Xion are nothing but puppets-not human."

"You don't know anything about my friends!" Lea snapped, "As far as I'm concerned, old man, you're the one who doesn't get it! I want to know more about Xehanort and his stupid plan that you mentioned a year ago. What did you mean by that?"

Braig chuckled, and said, "Sorry, hate to give out spoilers." before he frowned and grumbled, "And thanks to you, my plans for this world is ruined. But I'll have a prize on the magical item that can turn anything and anyone into soild gold, which will be useful to get rid of my enemies."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Roxas snapped, before something in his mind indicated that someone said the same thing, but who and why?

The one-eyed man continued to smirk, before he began to teleport away, as he too could still use the power of darkness, "Be good boys now." despite Lea wanting to throw his chakrams at him, but he missed, and ended up catching his weapons in irritation.

"Damn it!" Lea cursed. "Missed!"

"We should get back to Agrabah." Isa suggested. "I have a feeling that Xion, Namine and Princess Jasmine might be at risk."

Seeing that his childhood friend had a point, Lea nodded, "Yeah, good idea."

"Right." Roxas nodded, though he was starting to ask himself mentally on what he heard, and starting to think that maybe he's still not completely human at all. For one thing, Roxas is dead worried. Maybe he is still a Nobody.

The question is; he is still Sora's nobody, or a puppet?

* * *

><p>Xion was at the balcony with Jasmine, both staring out at the night sky, both lost in their own thoughts. For Jasmine, it was her worry about Aladdin's safety. For Xion, she just had more troubling visions and nightmares. She wanted them to stop, but they kept on coming, and it was scaring her even more. Namine was sketcing on her notepad, probably trying to find more clues.<p>

"_I'm asking you, as a friend. Just...put an end to me._" was what Ventus had said in her nightmare just now. Xion sighed, sad and afraid.

Neither of the two black-haired girls heard Genie behind them. "Boy, and I thought I was blue." he whispered, sensing the depression on the two girls. Neither of them were surprised at his sudden appearence.

While Jasmine talked to the Genie, Xion's mind wandered more into the nightmares. She knew that, despite her worries, Roxas, Lea and Isa would be just fine, as long as they were together. She also noticed that there was a figure besides this Terra, like Roxas had invisioned earlier.

It was a girl, but at the moment, it was blurly. Why did Xion think about the girl she met in the Realm of Darkness instead of the girl Ventus is friends with? Was there a connection? Buring her face in the palms of her hands, Xion felt depressed all over again. She'll never figure this out at this rate.

* * *

><p>Sa'luk, who was no longer a member of the Forty Thieves and is thought to have been killed by his enemy's son, had survived his fall from the cliff and had returned to Agrabah with a plot in mind. He had approached the captain of the guards who had no idea about his former place, and was given advice to capture Cassim at the hide-out. After that, the gray-skinned man was on a balcony of an abandoned building, which was also a place to an unwanted familiar man.<p>

"So, you're leading that guy and his men towards your old hideout for revenge, huh?" Braig asked as he approached.

The only reply he got was Sa'luk holding out his claws just an inch from Braig's throat, causing the one-eyed man to gasp, and had a flash of deja vu, and realising his mistake. "Okay, okay! I made a bad call for not telling you about those guys! I thought they wouldn't even consider on being near the Palace! Just put those claws down!"

Sa'luk does so and turns away, much to Braig's relief, so the latter relaxes.

"I mean, how was I supposed to know that those guys would be there, anyway? I'm just lucky that, that viser, whatever-his-name, didn't control my mind with his snake-stick. That would've ruined my week for sure." Braig was saying.

"I don't care about those five who are friends of this Sora you told me about," Sa'luk snapped. "All I want is Cassim; All I need is to have him captured, get the Oracle and get my hands on the Hand of Midus."

Braig quirked an eye-brow, asking, "Is it true that thing can really turn anything to pure gold by a single touch?"

The thief only grinned evilly.

* * *

><p>After camping out since it was really dark, and wanting to avoid using the corrirdor of darkness, Lea, Roxas and Isa returned to Agrabah the next day and, with the current guards' permission since Razoul had gone with some of his other men on a mission, and the trio decided to check things up at the Pavilion. It was as good as new, and everything is fixed up.<p>

"Wow, that Genie knew what he was doing." Isa commented, clearly impressed by the way things are right now.

"I guess everything's ready." Roxas added.

"Guess what Sora said and what you and Xi' had said wasn't a hoax after all." Lea teased.

"Oh thanks!" Roxas retored jokingly.

They then heard someone calling out their names, and noticed that it was Xion who, along with Namine, and the sudden arrivals of Aladdin, Iago, Abu, Carpet, and a man named Cassim approach them, and the two girls embraced their three friends.

"Sorry we took that long." Isa mumbled, blushing that Xion and Namine trusted him already.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Xion asked, worriedly.

Lea grinned, "Nah, nothin' we couldn't handle. Got it Memorized?"

"Who are these young familiar people?" Cassim questioned his son, having a feeling that he'd seen the blonde-haired boy before.

The others turned their attentions to Aladdin and the others, and Aladdin introduced, "Dad, these are friends of a friend of mine; Roxas, Xion, Namine, Lea and Isa."

To which Lea added, saying his catch-phrase, "Got it Memorized?" then stated, "You must be Al's Dad, right?"

"That's right. I'm Cassim." The older man replied.

"Nice to meet you." Roxas smiled, and the others said their hellos as well.

Aladdin then looked around, impressed that things are fixed up, and he said, "Looks like Genie has everything ready." with Abu nodding in agreement.

Hearing this made Cassim shocked and surprised as he turned to his son, asking, "Genie? You have a Genie? Have you used all three wishes yet?"

Iago, who was still sore from his past crimes with Jafar, and that he seriously wasn't in the mood to be around his blue-skinned annoying friend, groaned, "Oh please. Don't go into it. It's just too _painful_."

Just then, out of nowhere and scaring Lea and Isa nearly out of their skins, Genie poofed next to Aladdin, hugging and saying happily, "Oh Al'! You're back! And your front! You're both here!"

"Please stop appearing out of nowhere." Isa grumbled, "I was about to have a heart attack."

"What're you trying to do? Scare us to death?" Lea added, placing a hand onto his chest where he felt his heart thump from within.

Ignoring them, Genie states, "Security's tight. No big crowd. Immediate family and closest friends only." and continued before Aladdin could introduce Cassim, "And no lowlifes this time! Other than the parrot of course. Observe!" and pulled out a remote, pushing a botton.

From beneath the ground a few meteres away, a panel opened and a giant, very futuristic robot with Genie's face came up, armed with two laser cannons on both sides of it's head, making the group very uncomfortable.

"_**You have violated the perimeter of the Aladdin and Jasmine wedding; prepare to be vaporized, thank you.**_" says the Robot, then it fired, and everyone ducked just in time to avoid being vaporized.

Namine, who was freaked out, asked, "Um, isn't that a little too dangerous?"

"Armed, and dangerous." Genie confirmed. "I'd like to see one of those Forty Thieves get within an inch of your wedding." he added, making a gesture with two fingers.

Unforutuntely, he didn't even realise his mistake. Iago proudly gestured to Cassim, saying, "Allow me to introduce..."

"The King of Thieves." Cassim concluded.

"What!?" Lea, Roxas, Isa, Xion and Namine asked in shock. They were stunned to hear this. Aladdin's father...is the King of Thieves!? Trying to get over the shock, Lea muttered, "That's..." before trailling off.

"Unexpected." Roxas and Isa both said together.

Unfortunately, Genie turned hysterical and screamed loudly, before he took out a walkie-talkie, saying, "All units, we have a code red!"

Within seconds, several dozen other Genies in SWAT uniforms come out of all corners of the Palace, the metal gates and cages locking the palace like security alarm in a company, and all of the Genies were all echoing "Code red", much to Aladdin's annoyance, since he was perfectly calm about this. He just fingers the side of his head, eyes half closed.

Unfortunately, for Lea and his friends, more Genies appeared, as Scotsman wearing kilts, as the leader says, "Come on boys, follow me!" and as soon as the Genies marched towards them, playing bagpipes, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine immediately covered their ears, cringing and groaning at the horrible sound that came from dozens of bagpipes which were very loud, shrieky, noisy and just plain horrible, not even an attempt to call it an instument at all.

More Genies appeared, as cowboys, as the leader of that Genie group commands, "Calvary commence!" and his followers followed on horses. A plane then flies over the palace, and more Genie soldiers came jumping down, shouting, "Geronimo! Arapaho! Navajo!" before one Genie, appearing to be dressed as Pocahontas, also jumps out, saying, "Pocahontas!"

Before long, the Genie soldiers surrounded Cassim and Iago, saying, "Do not attempt to move, or we'll be shooting ourselves." holding out guns.

While his ears were still ringing from the horrid bag of noise that was sadly known as an instument, Lea muttered, "Don't you think this is a little too much?" wiggling his pinky in his ear to get rid the last of the ringing.

"When I get old, I'll be having a hearing-aid, no thanks to the bagpipes." Isa grumbled in sarcasm.

Aladdin, in the meantime, squeezed his way through the Genies, and says to his blue friend, "Genie! Meet my Dad."

Hearing this, Genie was now dumbfounded as he stared at the man who was not only the King of Thieves, but also Aladdin's father. At this, telling his clones to stand down and after they disappeared, Genie returned to normal and approached Cassim, inquiring, "If you're Al's dad, and the King of Thieves, I just wanna know one thing."

"Yeah?" Cassim asked, and before long, Genie turned into a butler, asking, "Will you be having the chicken or the sea bass?" much to Cassim's further confusion. Xion and Namine giggled at this, expecting nothing less from the magical being. Roxas laughed, and Lea and Isa now shook their heads.

"C'mon, Dad. I can't wait for you to meet Jasmine and the Sultan." Aladdin says, ready to take his father to meet the others, but Lea stepped in front of them.

"Whoa, there." Lea pointed out, "Don't you think it'll be a problem? I mean, come on, no offence, but by description of your clothes, I think we should lose that thief look."

Cassim quirked an eye-brow at this, asking, "What's wrong the way I look?"

Aladdin agreed with Lea, and said, "When you're here, you're not the King of Thieves. You're my dad."

Seeing how he still has a family member, and, not having a good past with that, Cassim, in slight embarrassment, admitted, "I had more practice in being the King of Thieves."

Lea blinked at this, then mentally sighed. It was almost like how he had the practice and training to be an assassin back in the Organization, being cold hearted, until he met Roxas and Xion, that he began to return to the fun and warm-hearted boy he use to be, and had now turned into the warm-hearted, caring and brave young man he was today. He realised that he and Cassim had something in common.

He smiled and said, "Ah, don't sweat it, man. All we have to do is put you in different clothes and you'll be fine."

"Yeah, let's forget the dark past." Genie agreed, "Let's roll out something a little new." and with a flick of his fingers, Cassim's clothes changed into a blue robe with a red shirt, and it made everyone smile.

Well, everyone except for Iago, but who knows?

With that, the group went to meet up with Jasmine and the Sultan, all unaware that things are not going to go as the should.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Please review! See you in the next chapter!**


	12. Some things don't change

**Second Life**

**Author's note: **_**Nothing much to say, except for, welcome back, and enjoy the next chapter. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH12: Some things don't change.<strong>_

"My boy Aladdin must have been born under a lucky star to find such a treasure." Cassim says to Princess Jasmine, who is flattered by her future-husband's father. The older man had taken judgement of the Princess, and, seeing how beautiful, smart and fun natured she is, it's no wonder Aladdin had fallen in love, and so, he was proud of his son. In his oppinion, there was no other woman in the world who could be this perfect like Jasmine.

"You are must definately Aladdin's father." Jasmine smiled, liking this man already, though she and her own father are unaware that Cassim is actually the King of Thieves, and to Lea, Aladdin, Roxas, Genie, Isa, Xion and Namine, they wanted it to remain this way.

The Sultan approached Aladdin's father, and says with pity, "It must've been terrible! Trapped by the Forty Thieves!"

"Uh-oh..." Lea and Genie both whispered worriedly. Isa felt uncomfortable, Aladdin and Roxas both gritted their teeth nervously, and Xion and Namine tried to avoid in glancing at each other.

Thankfully, Cassim played along, and says, in a very convincing gesture and everything, "I try to block out the memories."

The Sultan fell for it and believed the man's words. "Say no more." he says, "Not another word on the subject."

Cassim agreed with this, saying, "Yes. Let's turn to happier thoughts; the blessed union of our children!" happily hugging the Sultan who, surprised, agreed, "Indeed!" so it seemed that the two men would get along well after well, much to Lea and the others' relief.

"It worked. They love him!" Roxas said happily to the others who all smiled, though Isa felt something in his gut that it seemed too good to be true. But he decided that he was just being paranoid.

"It was the hat." Genie replied, "Nothing does the trick like a smart chapeau."

Aladdin smiled, stating, "All he needed was a second chance."

Hearing this, Lea smiled, and nudged Isa playfully on the chest, saying, "See? Even you can get a second chance."

"I think I'll just avoid in remembering my dark intentions." Isa shrugged, rubbing his chest, but smiled all the same. If Lea, who, as Axel and once an assassin, was given a second chance and is forgiven, then maybe there is hope for the blue-haired man after all. It still won't be easy to atone for his past, Isa will do it, and he will not let his darker self(AKA: Saix) get in the way.

Or, so he would like to believe.

* * *

><p>"You'll pay for this! You sold us out!" shouted one thief as he and thirty other thieves were locked up inside a dungeon, shouting at Sa'luk who stood on the other side of the door. In sheer annoyance, Sa'luk slammed the minidoor on the small peephole shut so hard, that another theif from within whined, "Ow! He got my nose!"<p>

To say that Sa'luk was angry would win the biggest understatement award. He was WAAAAAY beyond furious and peeved. He came here to see his prize, only to find that the man he wanted was absent, missing and well, not around. Razoul and his men returned with one most wanted man absent, and seven others having escaped, which means that the Forty Thieves organization, if that's what you wanna call it, is finished. The legendary infamous group had finally crumbled.

But that wasn't good news to Sa'luk, and Braig had to avoid in coming, because, thanks to Roxas and his friends, the one-eyed man was on top of the most wanted list, which made things a lot more compliated. Sa'luk now knew, he had to find a way to get rid of the five friends of the Keyblade wielder who, as many people of Agrabah call him, their Savior who helped Aladdin to save them from the evil Jafar-_twice_.

"He's not in there!" Sa'luk grunted, before storming into Razoul's office and inquired angrily, "You didn't capture the King of Thieves!?"

Razoul, who was just as peeved that he didn't capture the man he wanted to catch either, argued, "Because he was not at the hideout."

"He had to be there!" Sa'luk snapped, "Where else could he be!?"

But before the two men could get into a heated argument, that heat was crumbled, when a lower ranked guard came in, looking nervous and innocent, announcing, "Uh, apologizes, captian Razoul."

"What!?" Razoul and Sa'luk both snapped and turned to the guard at the exact same time, neither in the mood for unwanted company.

The rookie guard explained, "The Sultan says, he can't sentence the prisoners until tomorrow."

This made Razoul even more frustrated, as he exclaimed, "What's more important than sentencing my prisoners!?"

"Why, the wedding." was the guard's answer. "Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are finally getting married."

This got Sa'luk's attention, as he grabbed the guard by the collar, demanding, "Aladdin!? You didn't capture Aladdin with the others?" before letting the guard go.

Razoul, who always hated Aladdin even for existing and not caring with the 'Street-Rat' saved the Kingdom or not, asked curiously, "Why would he be with the Forty Thieves?"

Seeing that Razoul didn't get the connection yet, Sa'luk growled, "Because his father is the King of Thieves!"

Eyes widening, Razoul then smiled, while Hakim and Fazal looked at each other. Razoul now had an advantage in finally getting rid of Aladdin, or at least, get him kicked out of the Palace, forcing Jasmine to return to the original rule of being forced to marry a real Prince instead, and Razoul would finally get reputation. He also knew, that, despite Sora being friends with the Princess, the Keyblade wielder was also friends with Aladdin, and thus, was also on Razoul's bad side, which means that Sora's five friends are also on his hatred list since meeting them a few days back.

Now he can finally get rid of all of them and hailed as Agrabah's true hero!

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, later that day, everyone got ready for the wedding, for the second time in a row, and Lea, Isa and Roxas were dressed in arabian versions of tuxedos, even though Lea tugged at his collor uncomfortably, Xion and Namine were wearing outfits that resembled to Jasmine's every-day clothes; harem-style outfits.<p>

The only problem is, Cassim was missing.

"Do you think something happened to him?" Xion asked, worriedly.

The gut feeling Isa felt earlier got even worse, and he turned to Lea who now held a supicious and skeptical look, the red-haired man asking, "Come to think of it, where's that annoying talking bird?" referring to Iago.

Roxas, seeing and hearing this, looked at Genie and asked, "Genie, can you find them?"

"I'll sniff him out." Genie replied, before he magically turned into a blue version of Pluto, much to Lea and his friends' surprise. Seeing this, Isa automatically remembered when Xion asked if she could keep the real Pluto, to which, as a child, fond of dogs, didn't see any problem with that.

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Flash-Back; During the events of 3582 Days.**_

_Seeing the happy face of the dog Xion and Axel brought back from Twilight Town, Saix, stone faced as usual, noted that the dog is very well behaved and didn't seem to have any problems with strangers, and the fact that Xion had quickly grown to love it, reminded him of his early years when he was once a human._

_Finally, he replied, "I suppose there's no harm in it."_

_"Really!?" Xion asked happily, while Axel stared at him, dumbfounded, muttering, "Eh?"_

_Relieved and happy, Xion turned to Pluto and says, "Isn't that great, Puppy!?" before she lead the dog down the stairs, adding, "C'mon, I want you to meet Roxas!" as Pluto, comfortable in making a new friend, barked happily and followed his new(temporarely) owner, leaving the two older male Nobodies behind who watched them go._

_Skeptical and exasperated, Axel turned to his former friend and muttered in a hint of sarcasm, "Well, well. Will the wonders never cease." as he had expected Saix to say no._

_Saix looked away, and, his expression becoming a bit soft, replied, "I was fond of dogs once."_

_Axel's expression turned into a blank surprise and confusion, before he realised what the blue-haired man just said, and, smiling, he laughed, "Ha-ha! So you _do_ still have a few memories of the good old days!" as he also remembered, as a child and a human, that Lea would laugh everytime Isa was near a dog._

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>End of Flash-Back<strong>_

Isa was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Genie gasp, and when he turned, not only the Genie turned back to normal, but to his, and everyone else's shock and horror, Cassim was in handcuffs, held by the back of the clothes by a smirking and victorious Razoul, with another guard with him.

"Razoul! What is the meaning of this?" The Sultan demanded.

"Your Majesty," Razoul began, "Meet, the King of Thieves." pushing the imprisoned Cassim forward, despite Aladdin trying to get to him, but the young man was held back by other two guards, while the captain of the guards explained, "We seized him in the Treasury. He was after this-Again." to prove his word, he held up the Oracle's staff.

Aladdin's eyes widened in disbelief and betrayal. Lea and his group were beyond shocked at this. Cassim returned, just to get to the Oracle!

"And this, is his accomplince." Razoul added, as the other guard held up a chained Iago, captured in a single cuff around his wings.

"Oh great." Lea grumbled, "The Bird had to go and ruin everything." realising that Iago must've convinced Cassim to return by mention about the Oracle.

"Now I know why you came back." Aladdin states to his father who, feeling guilty for his actions, lowered his head in shame for betraying his son, and crushing his future.

The Sultan, in beyond disbelief at this, asked to Aladdin, "Your father...is the leader of the Forty Thieves!?" before palming himself on his forehead. He knew that Aladdin was a brave, kind and caring young man, but to be the son of the King of Thieves, this was just unbelievable.

"Aladdin, did you know?" Jasmine asked softly, stunned herself. The reply she got was, "I thought I could change him, I had to try!" as Aladdin now felt guilt at everything was ruined, in favor for Razoul's promotion or whatever.

Isa lowered his head, also feeling the pain of guilt, fearing that he might make the similiar mistake. Lea glanced at his childhood friend, and his heart felt heavy. Some people didn't change, but for the two young men like them, it seemed that seeing this made them both doubt that they really can redeem themselves. Roxas shook his head in disbelief.

"You can change my clothes, Aladdin, you can't change who I am." Cassim states.

Razoul, enjoying his enemies' grief and couldn't wait for the right moment to gain his victory, adds, "And the law, is crystal clear on we must now do."

Despite Jasmine's protests, the Sultan knew that there was no other choice. In a firm but shamed tone, he orders the guards, "Take the Prisoners to the Dungeon."

"Dungeon!?" Iago asked, horrified.

"For life." the Sultan concluded, lowering his head.

"LIFE!?" Iago cried out, before his beak was shut closed by another cuff by the guard who was holding him, before he and Cassim were led away to spend the rest of their lives in the dungeon.

Roxas, fury in his eyes, turned away in disgust, angered at Cassim's betrayal. Unwanted memories of similiar betrayals filled his mind, and, as much as he knew that Axel didn't want to betray him and that the redhead, even before returning as Lea a year ago, loved him; Axel loved Roxas like a big brother would, he still kept so many secrets from him.

As if sensing the same thing, Lea sighed shakily, while Isa sadly muttered, "Perhaps I should remain in a dungeon myself when we get back home." much to Lea's shock as he turned back to his friend.

"Some things just can't change." Isa continued.

Lea shook his head, muttering, "No...I can't afford to lose you again." adding as he looked at Roxas, Xion and Namine, "None of you. I can't bear with that." feeling and looking hopeless.

Genie, also in guilt and sorrow, places a hand onto Aladdin's shoulder, muttering in shame, "There are some wishes that even _I_ can't make come true."

* * *

><p>Later that night, all unable to bear in being within the Palace, knowing that some of them may no longer have a place there, and Aladdin's and Jasmine's future together may be crumbling faster than they knew, all were in Aladdin's former home, thinking about the situation.<p>

"The Oracle was right." Aladdin sighed, "My dad was trapped in the world of the Forty Thieves. Trapped by his own greed." turning to face the Palace again, he added, "I was so stupid to think I could change him."

"Trying to change your father isn't stupid, Aladdin." Roxas pointed out, even though he had no idea what having parents is like. The closest thing to a family he knew are Lea, Xion and Namine, and Isa was added to the group after getting his heart back, and was no longer the cold Nobody that was Saix.

"Leaving him alone with that parrot," Isa began.

"That was stupid." Lea concluded for his friend. This earned him and Isa a glare from Roxas and the girls, and Lea and his friend both shrugged.

Aladdin, however, ignored those comments, and continued, "Everything was perfect before he came to my life!" then sighed, "I just want things the way they were."

Then a risky idea came to him, and he states, "Genie, I need my father's clothes." much to everyone's shock.

"Whoa!" Lea shook his head, standing up and looked at Aladdin, almost angerily, "You can't go in there! You bust your old man out, they catch you and that's the end of you!"

"He's right. You're risking your future." Isa agreed.

Even Genie, who summoned up Cassim's old clothes, said in annoyance, "Might I suggest something that doesn't say, (turning into a prisoner) ARREST ME!?"

But Aladdin wasn't listening, as he was now wearing his father's clothes, muttering to himself, "It fits. Good." and when turned around, the group could've sworn that Aladdin was the spitting image of his father, lacking the beard and all that.

"You're making a mistake!" Xion protested. "What if they find you out?"

Again, he ignored the warning. "I'm breaking my father out of the dungeon." Aladdin explained, "The guards'll never know I was there." as he walked towards the exit, he concluded, "Tonight, the King of Thieves will make his most miraculous escape ever... out of my life." leaving the group to watch him go.

Genie, worried, pointed as he asked, "That's the cape talking, isn't it?"

"How should I know?" Lea shrugged.

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Namine asked worriedly.

Roxas, sighing and recalling what King Mickey had said a year ago to Sora, muttered, "He's doing what his heart is telling him to do. We can't do anything."

Unfortunately, he's right. So, all they could do was wait.

* * *

><p>Outside the lair and waiting at the beach, Braig was leaning against a rock near the shore, arms crossed and waiting for his accomplince to arrive. He heard from Sa'luk that Cassim is captured, and, if Aladdin is stupid enough, will break his father out of the dungeon, while the man would again steal the Oracle and then return here. It was all part of Sa'luk's plan. It was waiting for the next phase that was the killer.<p>

"Was I taking too long?" came a familiar voice, to which Braig turned to look and Sa'luk came, jumping off his horse and letting it go free.

"Any issues along the way?" asked Braig.

"Not at all." Sa'luk grinned.

Now it was time to get the remaining seven Thieves on their side, and victory was theirs, and as for Braig, his mission will have another success.

* * *

><p>The jailbreak was sucessful, but Aladdin was found out, though, despite Cassim's protests, the younger man refused to leave and will accept his punishment. Iago, who was with, was encouraged by his friend to leave as well, and, well the Parrot had to admit that he was worried for Aladdin, agreed to leave the Palace for a new life with Cassim, even though they were having a discusstion about their future. Before they left the Palace, the once again snuck into the treasure room and stole the Oracle.<p>

"I know the treasure's limitless. But I'm not crazy about a forty way split." Iago was saying, perching on Cassim's shoulder the entire time. "If it was just uh, you and me..."

Cassim disagreed, pointing out, "I would never cut my men out of the deal. They're my family, my only family. I can always count on them."

The duo entered the lair, and, with an unchanged attidute, Cassim called out, "I'm home!"

Unfortuntely, they arrived too late as, having been convinced by Sa'luk and Braig, the remaining thieves came out of their hiding places, weapons in hand, and look furious at Cassim who, shocked by this, backed up until he and a freaked out Iago were trapped in a corner.

"Why don't they look happy to see you?" Iago asked worriedly.

That's when the dead came back, as Sa'luk and Braig emerged from the crowd, smirks on their faces.

"We are." Braig chuckled.

"We're _thrilled_!" Sa'luk added, flashing his claws at Cassim.

Cassim could not believe this was happening. Obvious this happened while he was still in Agrabah, and he knew, it was his own fault that came to this situation.

Brandishing his weapons, Braig pointed one at Cassim's throat, making Iago shriek in fear, and he told the man in a cold and sinister tone, "Move it."

* * *

><p>In the ocean on a boat, Cassim and Iago were strapped onto the mast of a ship Sa'luk and the remaining thieves stole, and were sailing to locate the Vanishing Isle. Unknown to the villians, Iago was struggling to get himself free so that he could go and get help.<p>

"Hurry, little friend!" Cassim whispered.

Iago muttered and grunted in annoyance, "I'm wiggling, I'm wiggling!" and it was getting pretty close too.

"I'm growing impaitent, Cassim!" Sa'luk growled, "Ask the question!" while another thief, holding the Oracle staff, holds it close to Cassim's face who muttered, "We must be uh..."

Behind him, Iago managed to get his wings free and was now pulling the rest of himself out, muttering, "Just a little further..."

"Further out to sea!" Cassim quickly said.

Braig rolled his single eye and grumbled, "Stop making excuses and just ask the stupid question now already!"

"Now's good." Iago muttered as he took a deep breath and squeezed himself the rest of the way out, sucking in his gut.

In defeat, Cassim asked to the Oracle, "Where can we find the Hand of Midas?" and in an instant, the great light shot up into the night sky, blinding almost everyone, except for Cassim who stared in awe, and Iago, who, un-noticed, got himself free and he quickly flew away to get help.

The Oracle appeared before the villians, saying, "The Vanishing Isle will appear at Dawn. I will show you the way!" before it transformed into a beaming light and shot out towards the exact location of the Vanishing Isle, before it appeared again, shooting up in the sky where the Isle would no doubt appear.

"There's your setting, _captain_!" Cassim hissed mockingly.

'_And soon, Xehanort will have a field day._' Braig secretly thought to himself.

* * *

><p>Back at the Palace, to say that the Sultan was annoyed would've been a lie. Aladdin was now on the Balcony along with the Sultan, Jasmine, Lea, Roxas, Isa, Xion and Namine, and Abu and Carpet and Genie. Lea's group were nervous, as they, while having decided to try again in their search for Braig, were instead captured by the guards by mistake, and, despite their protests, Razoul had stated that Sora is not to be trusted, and thus, they are enemies, despite having good hearts, which made them angry.<p>

Now the five travellers and Aladdin were in custody.

"Frankly, all six of you, your actions are most disappointing!" Sultan says in anger.

Razoul, mentally pleased that he has won, says, "It is tragic, your highness. But the Street-Rat has obviously followed in his father's footsteps, and the so called Savior of Agrabah and his friends cannot be trusted after all. Aladdin and Sora, are criminals."

This made Lea furious, but he tried so hard to hold in his anger. How dare this jerk insult Sora!? He had nothing to do with this situation and he wasn't even here! Razoul must've planned this from the very beginning, to capture Sora if the boy would return for a visit or on another mission, only to be thrown out, and in the end, without Sora's help, or any other Keyblade wielder's help, and if Jasmine was to be kidnapped again, Agrabah would no doubt fall into darkness, and yet Razoul was too blind to see that.

Genie, dressed as a lawyer, then appeared, saying, "I object, your honor!" changing Razoul into a bailiff, and the Sultan on the court chair as the judge. Genie then continued, "I object to that outrageous statement. And I object to a tertiary character having any lines during my big courtroom scene." he then handed an annoyed Razoul a briefcase, much to the guard's now confusion.

"Take this to a higher court, chow!" Genie said, blasting Razoul into the sky and out of the scene, causing the man to blast off like a rocket with a hot trail left behind. Genie then appeared next to Aladdin and the others, saying to the Sultan, "Your honor, if I may enter a plea of insanity, because I'm crazy about these kids!" bringing Aladdin, Lea, Roxas, Isa, Xion and Namine into a tight group hug, causing the six of them to gag for air.

The six of them got themselves free, and Roxas said to Genie, "Genie! We have to do this ourselves." as Aladdin walked over to the Sultan.

"Sultan, I convinced my father to come here. It was my fault." Sighing, Aladdin concluded, "I would've been better off if I'd never known him."

Jasmine approached Aladdin and she said to him, as she understood why he did what he did. "Aladdin, you found your father. A father who risked his freedom to see your wedding. And you risked everything to save him. Just as I would for my father."

"And Sora knows better than to do something wrong." Roxas added to the Sultan, "He saved all of us when we thought we were all doomed to disappear."

"He showed me what friendship really is like." Namine added.

Xion added, "Sora is the main reason why I have my friends right now."

"The kid, Roxas and Xion made me remember what it was like to feel emotions all over again, emotions that I lost ten years earlier, reminded me what it was like to have friends and family all over again." Lea added.

Finally, Isa added, "It's thanks to Sora that I got Lea back, and it was thanks to him that he helped Lea to help me. Sora is a true friend, and he may be the only one to save almost those who are lost."

Sultan, hearing all of this, and having deep thoughts about this, finally said to the group, "Aladdin, I could not overlook your father's crimes, but what you have done,(in the background, Genie, clinging onto a struggling Carpet and bitting his nails scaredly), well, you did it out of love. And you came back to take responsibility for your actions. And to all of you, Sora is a brave young man who cares so much for his friends, and made all of you follow in his path. The Kingdom owes Sora this much. Let us put all this behind us."

Genie sighed in relief, before realising that he accidently squeezed poor Carpet into a stick and grinned sheepishly. Lea, Roxas, Isa, Xion and Namine all glanced at each other, all relieved that they were pardoned and Aladdin was forgiven, while the Sultan continued, "I believe we have postponed the wedding long enough."

Lea laughed, "Good call."

Genie agreed with the pyro, adding happily, "Okay! Let's give a big hand for the wise and generous Sultan!" while the tubby King was lead away by two giant hands.

Everyone was smiling, all relieved that things were looking right...until a familiar scream filled their ears. They all looked up just in time to Iago fall from the sky, exhausted and battered, and quickly, just before he could crash land onto the ground, Carpet flew underneath him and caught him just in time for a soft landing.

Xion immediately went over and scooped Iago gently into her arms, while he was in pain, as if he was attacked and had nearly gotten killed.

"Al's...Dad! Ugh!" Iago managed to wheeze.

Xion cradled the bird and whispered, "Shh, take a deep breath, Iago. What happened to Aladdin's father?"

The Bird exclaimed, "It's Sa'luk!"

"Who's Sa'luk?" Lea asked, puzzled.

Iago, rolling his eyes, continued, "The guy Al beat! He's not beat! He's back. And he's got Cassim!"

Despite hearing this, Aladdin, still angered by his father's betrayal, turned around, saying, "That's his problem! He chose to go back to his life!"

The others looked at him, and Isa pointed out, "Aladdin, just because your father made bad choices, doesn't mean you have to."

"He's your father." Namine reminded, "How can you do anything else?"

"Are you going to leave him?" Roxas asked, watching Aladdin walk over to the railing of the balcony.

The young man stared out, saying, "I'm being as stubborn as he was..." and, a moment of silence, turns with a determination and excitement, and says to Iago, "Show me the way!"

Everyone smiled, and Iago, in relief, sighed. He knew he could count on Aladdin.

Lea, sensing an adventure coming, turned to his group and asked, "So, who's up in beating up the bad guys?"

"I'm not gonna argue there." Isa smirked.

"Count me in!" Roxas declared.

"Us too!" Xion and Namine both said together.

It was decided, as all eleven on the balcony were ready to rescue Cassim and stop Sa'luk once and for all, and for Lea and his friends, to save this world from being devoured into darkness. It was up to them to save Agrabah now, as Sora would want to help too if he was around, and he would no doubt agree with the group helping his friends as well.

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><p><strong>AN: And the rescue party is about to commence!...No, no bagpipes here, thankfully. I hate that instument. The final battle against the Forty Thieves and more unexpected shall be revealed in the next chapter. In the meantime, Please continue your great reviews!**


	13. How 'Bout a Little Swim?

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Quick note-the guy who is the voice of Goofy, states that Kingdom Hearts 3 is coming out this year, though Square Enix was quick to apologuise and state that he made a mistake, which, I knew already like most other people, though I was kinda hoping it was true.**

**In the meantime, enjoy and always knowlage that I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

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><p><em><strong>CH13: How 'Bout a Little Swim?<strong>_

By the time it was dawn, the ship that was carrying the thieves, Cassim and Braig was much closer to the light where the Vanishing Isle would appear. As for the heroes, they were arriving as well, but by air instead of boat. Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and Iago were on Carpet, while Roxas, Lea, Xion, Namine and Isa(who all returned to their coats) were on an airplane with Genie as the pilot, which made the five of them nervous, but if worse comes to worse, they'll just jump out in case Genie confronts the thieves first.

On the boat, as the villians and their captive were near the light, the Oracle then says, "You have arrived." before it vanished completely, and all of the sudden, the ocean became very rough as the waves moved, rocking the ship back and forth, and a thick mist appeared as well, as everyone, except for Cassim, were trying to keep their balance.

"Where is it?" asked the Fat thief, holding onto his hat.

The Asian thief looked around, before stating, "I see nothing but fog."

"I had enough of your trickery!" Sa'luk growled as he threatened Cassim with his claws, but his former ally was calm.

"No." Cassim said, "This is it!" much to Sa'luk's confusion, while the former King of Thieves added with a smile, "The Vanishing Isle. Watch."

Then, more rocks and turns hit the ship, and everyone tried to hold on, some of them getting sea-sick from all the rocking. Braig was leaning over the railing, and he noticing something in the water, and it was coming closer and closer. His single eye widened, as he muttered, "Uh, guys? I think we've got something unusual surfacing."

True to his word, a white piller rose from the water, and more and more coming, along with a giant building that was like a temple or a castle. Everyone was stunned by this, until the boat was nearly knocked over when it was now resting underneath a grassy part of the Isle, next to a building that acted as a platform for them. It wasn't finished yet, because a _giant head _emerged, a low moaning and deep breath came along with it.

It was not just an Isle, but the Isle itself was also a _**giant turtle**_.

When the rescue party came out of the mist, they all gasped in stunned awe and disbelief, some of them even having fear on their expressions. Their eyes were wide at the most frightening and astonding sight.

"The Vanishing Isle." Lea whispered, awestruck. Never, in his existance as a child or as Axel, has he seen such a breath-taking sight.

"On the back of a..._giant_ turtle!" Roxas added, stunned and questioning himself on who would build a building on a giant sea creature to make it this amazing.

"Never in the same place twice." Isa blinked, unable to believe what it was seeing. At first, he thought he was dreaming, but it was so real. In fact, it was real.

Xion and Namine were both speechless at the sight, only staring at each other, wondering if there were any other giant beings in existance in other worlds. Knowing that they were running out of time, Lea turned to Genie and asked, "Yo, Genie! Can ya land us on the ground?"

"Right-o!" Genie saluted, before landing the plane down where Aladdin and the others had also landed, before the plane disappeared and Genie flew up and reappeared, paracuting and landed in front of the thieves, having turned into Rambo with a laser gun, shouting, "Prepare to Rock and Roll, dudes!" firing, while the seven thieves ducked and landed humilatingly on the ground to avoid getting vaporized. Sa'luk grabbed Cassim towards their destination, and Braig followed.

The remaining thieves tried to run, but they were blocked off by Roxas, his group, Jasmine, Abu and Carpet, while Iago, as usual, was hiding. Isa knocked them away with his Claymore of a gust of wind, Lea threw his chakrams at them have several cuts before catching them again, Roxas, having been Sora's Nobody, threw his Keyblade towards the group like a boomarang, knocking the trio Nobodies down before catching it again, Xion clashed and knocked the knived thief out, Namine incasted thunderga, zapping a couple of thieves, Carpet flew out of being between two thieves who comically bashed into each other, before it flew underneath them and knocked them off their feet, Abu jumped onto their heads.

Genie, as a monk, appeared on one side, saying, "I am here." before disappearing and reappearing on the other side of the thieves, repeating, "I am here." before vanishing again. The six thieves tried to find him, only to be crushed and stuck underneath a griffin statue by Jasmine who pushed it.

The fat Thief, the only one remaining consciousness, then noticed a shadow looming over him. Confused, he turned around to find Genie who turned into a hillbilly, taller than him, saying, "How 'bout a packet of Nutty Buddies?" before knocking the Thief away with his belly, while the thief was flown away comically, the same way he knocked Razoul earlier at the Palace.

Aladdin then noticed Sa'luk forcing Cassim to lead the way, with Braig behind them, and Lea, Isa and Roxas joined Aladdin, who he then said to Genie, "Genie! We need a distraction!"

"Survey says!" Genie agreed, before he immediately flew towards the Turtle's head, shouting, "Show me turtle!" before he realised that the way into the nose was blocked, which was a pain. He turned into a wrestler, punching before he head-butts it, until he realised that he has to go into the mouth to get inside.

He then turned into a wrestler announcer, saying, "Oh no! He's got'em in the half nelson. Now he's got'em in the full nelson." before he and the platform he was sitting on was floating into the opened mouth of the turtle, continuing, "He's coming in quick. Oh no, he's up, he's down, and he's actually inside the turtle! We'll be right back after a brief message." and just as he says this, the mouth closes shut, but then he began tickling the turtle, saying, "Tickle tickle tickle!" causing the turtle's eye pupils shrink.

Being ticklish on the inside, the Turtle shrieked, causing a shockwave on the castle, and nearly made Cassim, Sa'luk and Braig lose their footing. This gave Aladdin, Roxas, Lea and Isa a chance, as they all jumped off the higher platform and Roxas and Aladdin knocked Sa'luk down, Lea and Isa knocked Braig, catching him off-guard, before Lea gave him a good punch on the face, knocking the one-eyed man out cold, as he landed on the ground, unconscious.

"It took me years to find my father." Aladdin says, "I'm not losing him again."

As Sa'luk began to get up, Roxas preformed an uppercut with his Keyblade, and knocked the gray-skinned thief down at the bottom of the stairs, knocking him out cold.

Isa and Lea then both dragged Braig towards a pillar in a sitting position, before tying up him with a rope Isa brought with, trapping their enemy. Both men smirked at their handy work, as Lea joked, "See how you like it."

"Hey Lea, maybe he'll have a nice swim later on." Isa grinned.

Lea grinned in return, then turned to Braig and said, "Ya hear that? How 'bout a little swim?" before he and Isa joined Roxas and Aladdin who both freed Cassim from his bounds, the older man stunned that they had come to his rescue, despite his doubts and his crimes towards them, especially his own son.

"You came to help me?" Cassim asked.

"How could I do anything else?" Aladdin replied, as he, Cassim, and even Roxas, Lea and Isa all smiled.

Lea then suggested, "How about we go get that treasure of yours and then get outta here."

The others agreed with him, as they then all walked towards the chamber where the ultimate treasure was in. Xion and the others were alright for now, as they were waiting for the others. Lea and his group entered a giant room, where massive black statues stood on either side. The statues were high enough to where they were halfway to the ceiling. Lining the room were columns that ended halfway up the height of the griffon statues. The doorway they had entered through was the head of an eagle with an open beak. Interestingly a large stone statue that resembled the oracle's staff sat atop it and a statue oracle herself was looming over the room behind it.

"Amazing." Cassimed breathed, awed. The others were impressed as well.

Lea let's out a whistle, as he gazed around, before admitting, "Whoa. Whoever built this must've taken at least 200 years to complete."

"You'd think considering that it's literally on a turtle's back." Isa nodded in agreement.

The group stood underneath a floating giant golden hand, and looked up in awe. Suddenly the earth moved and everyone was knocked to the ground as a loud shriek was made. Roxas, Aladdin and Lea had landed onto their butts at the quake.

"I think the turtle is very tickish to have an aftermath." Lea thought.

"Maybe Genie got a bit carried away." Roxas smiled agreed.

"No!" Cassim pointed out, realising what's happening. "It's the Vanishing Isle! The turtle is diving! We must climb higher!"

The group looked and realised that he was right, as water suddenly came periling towards them. It wasn't a problem for Roxas, Lea or Isa, because they easily leaped up to the higher point, but they did slow down as they helped Aladdin and Cassim, who weren't as gifted as the three of them were. They began climbing and avoiding the water to avoid in drowning. The clock was ticking, and they had to get to the hand before the island disappears again.

They all reached on top of one of the statues which water was flooding out of it's mouth to below while the water itself was rising. They were now on the same level as the golden hand. In the hand's palm, as a statue that resembled to the Oracle, holding it's staff, and on it, was a smaller golden hand that seemed to have a handle. That was the hand that Cassim had sought out for his life; the Hand of Midas.

Cassim held back tears, as he muttered, "Pity I didn't find this place years ago." before he took a few steps back, preparing to jump, "This would be much easier if I were much younger."

"I'll get it!" Roxas declared as he leaped off the statue and onto the hand, landing safely, before standing up, giving the others a thumbs up. Lea shook his head with a smirk.

"Show-off." He muttered.

"He must've learned that from either Sora or you." Isa smirked.

Lea shrugged, "What can I say? Kid's gotta learn and all."

Aladdin smiled, saying, "See? It pays to have a junior partner."

"Be careful! Don't touch the golden hand!" Cassim warned to Roxas who nodded, and grabbed the hand by the handle, at first struggling to get it out, before it slid off, freeing the item.

Smiling, Roxas nodded, before turning to the others, calling out, "Catch!" and threw it towards them.

The others couldn't think of anything to catch it without touching the golden hand, so, Cassim used his cape as a net, and when it landed golden hand first, in an instant, it sparked, and to everyone's amazement, Cassim's came turned gold, while Cassim now held the hand by the handle. Lea, Aladdin, Isa and Roxas were amazed by this magical touch.

Cassim laughed, before saying, "The hand of Midas!" then he held it to the handle and touched it to the floor, and instantly, the entire room was turned into gold. As if paranoid, Lea, Aladdin and Isa jumped a bit to avoid getting touched, and were thankfully normal. Even the water turned gold. However, more water came and break through the walls, as the turtle was diving deeper into the ocean.

"Time to go, boys!" Cassim cried out.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sa'luk came jumping down and knocked Roxas to the floor, much to Lea and Isa's horror. "Roxas!" Lea screamed, before taking a few steps back, and then leaped off the statue and onto the giant hand, landing next to his friend who stood up, with Sa'luk grinning evilly at them.

"Nobody's going anywhere." Sa'luk sneered, though he was disappointed that another has come to Roxas' rescue. Lea, glared at the evil man, summoned his Chakrams, while Roxas summoned his Keyblade. To their surprise, Isa had also leaped and landed next to them, his Claymore at the ready.

"Three against one is better." Isa stated, nodding at Lea who understood, and nodded, before the trio turned back to their enemy.

Sa'luk found this amusing, before stating, "Give the Hand of Midas to me, Cassim, or these boys die!"

Cassim, having learned about friendship, compassion and family, and seeing how close these boys were with Xion and Namine, refused to leave them behind, as Aladdin thought of the same thing.

"Just go!" Lea ordered both Aladdin and his father, "Don't worry about us!"

"Yeah, we can handle him!" Roxas agreed.

"Time's wasting! Go now!" Isa ordered as well.

However, Cassim had another idea, as looked at the Hand of Midas, and he knew one thing that Sa'luk didn't, because the enemy was the only man in this chamber who didn't know the hand's true power. Finally making a decision, he shouted, "You want the hand of Midas, Sa'luk? Take it!" and with a powerful throw, he threw the hand towards the others, across the room.

Sa'luk pushed Lea out of the way, before grabbing the item...by the hand! "The Hand of Midas is mine!" he laughed, then added as he stared at Cassim, "And also, the lives of your friends." as Isa and Roxas helped Lea up. Aladdin looked in horror.

As did Roxas, Lea and Isa, who all were speechless. Sa'luk, seeing this, turned to look at them, rudely asking, "What're you three staring at?" before he noticed a glow, and when he looked down, his heart stopped in sheer horror, as he realised far too late of the hand's power.

He drops it, but it was too late for him. It was doing it's job and slowly turning him into soild gold. He screamed out, "No...no...no...NO...AAAAHHHHH!" and at his last horrified scream, he was turned into a pure gold statue. The boys cringed and looked away, while the statue fell backwards and into the waters below.

"I'd have say that turning into a gold statue is way worse than turning into a Heartless." Lea muttered, having goosebumps crawling in his skin.

"Yeah, no arguments there." Isa cringed.

"C'mon, guys! Let's go!" Roxas said as he grabbed the hand by the handle again, and, having brought a cloth earlier(**where and when? Even I have no idea**) and carefully but tightly wrapped the hand in it so that he could put it in his pocket without suffering the same fate as Sa'luk.

But as they were about to leap off the giant hand, all of the sudden, out of the water, came a giant version of Sa'luk, made out of gold, but with a heartless sign on his chest, as the ground shook. He bellowed, "NO ONE'S LEAVING!" glaring at Roxas and the others. Dodging Sa'luk's punch, the statue that was crushed was turned into gold, much to everyone's horror.

"Be careful! If he grabs you, you'll turn into gold too!" Isa warned.

"Then we'd better hurry!" Lea agreed, leaping out of the way, while Roxas threw the cloth-covered hand towards Aladdin and Cassim. Aladdin caught it by the handle, and making sure that the cloth was tightly around the hand, places it onto his belt, before crying out, "C'mon guys!"

"Just go! We'll catch up!" Roxas cried out, before he leaped out of the way to avoid Sa'luk's punch, before the young Keyblade wielder fired a Firaga at the giant's face, causing Sa'luk to scream in pain. Without a choice, Aladdin told them to hurry, before he and his father raced to climb out of the chamber.

Lea clashed Sa'luk's arm with his Chakrams, summoning up his fire abilites and aimed at the enemy's chest, before leaping out of the way again. Isa summoned his his Moon spell and had a beam of light hit Sa'luk on the head, before blasting another gust of wind at his face, causing Sa'luk to stumble back in the water.

Roxas then mentally concentrated and, calling apon Xion's aid, he summoned the Oathkeeper in his left hand, and then with two Keyblades, slashed at Sa'luk's face repeatedly. The giant roared in pain, before it made to grab him.

"Look out!" Lea screamed as he pushed Roxas out of the way, but was grabbed around his waist, causing the redhead to desummon his weapons. Lea cried out, cringing as Sa'luk tightened his grip on the pyro. Lea's body began to feel heavy, as he looked and to his horror, his body was beginning to turn into solid gold. Sa'luk grinned evilly as he watched his prey turn into gold, much to Isa and Roxas's horror.

As the curse was now to his chest and turning his arms into gold, Lea, with tears in his eyes, quickly turned to Roxas and Isa, and said to the latter, his voice quivering in sadness and fear, "Take care of them." before closing his eyes as the tears fell, and before he knew it, Lea was now solid gold himself.

"LEA!" Roxas and Isa both screamed in agony as they both continued to slash against Sa'luk who laughed at this.

In anger, Roxas screamed at the top of his lungs, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" as he then leaped into the air, ready to strike. To his surprise, Isa was doing the same thing at the same time, and, both of them nodding, due to the fact that they wanted vengence for the loss of their best friend, both cried out as both slashed their weapons at Sa'luk's chest, stabbing the giant directly into the chest.

Sa'luk screamed in pain, letting go of the golden Lea who fell, before Isa grabbed hold of his body and both of them and Roxas landed on the hand, while Sa'luk unleashed an unearthly roar of defeat before he vanished, a heart floated away, into the sky, being devoured into the darkness forever.

But there was no celebrating. Despite the waters continuing to rise, Isa and Roxas were heartbroken, as they stared down onto Lea's golden corpse. The last thing the redhead had said, was for Isa to take care of Roxas, Xion and Namine in his place.

"No...NO!" Roxas screamed as he collasped on his knees, and sobbed, his tears falling. He then hugged Lea's golden form and cried. Isa continued to hold onto Lea's body, crying himself. He couldn't lose his best friend again. Not now! This couldn't be happening.

"Lea...Lea, please come back..." Isa whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Both of them continued to cry, as their tears landed onto Lea's golden-stoned face. Suddenly, seconds after that, the body began to glow, catching Roxas's and Isa's attentions. Both of them leaned back and watched in awe, as then, as if their tears had broken a spell, the curse was being reversed, as from top to bottom, Lea's body began to return to normal. Once his body was fully back to normal, Lea gasped sharply as if life returned to him, and as he groaned, Lea blinked his eyes open, much to Roxas's and Isa's relief.

Once realising that he's alive, and that Roxas and Isa were there for him, Lea smiled, relieved as well. "Hey..." he began, "Sorry for scaring you guys." only for both of them to glomp onto him, hugging him as they cried in happiness and relief, startling Lea.

"Lea! You're alright!" Roxas said happily.

"Thank god." Isa muttered, tears still falling.

Seeing that both of them had cried for his 'death', Lea felt tears in his eyes, and then he hugged them back, fully relieved that they were still together. Suddenly they all felt a wet patch underneath them, and when they let each other go to look, they eyes widened as the water was still rising, reminding them of where they are.

"Time to go!" Lea stated as he and his friends quickly stood up, and leaped off the hand back onto the statue, before they rushed towards the nearest place to climb out, and began to make their way towards the very top of the spire outside. Outside at the top, Aladdin and Cassim where waiting, until they noticed Roxas climbing out of the hole, and both men helped him out, before helping out Lea and Isa, all three of them breathing the fresh air.

Lea ruffled his own hair, as he sighed. "At least we won't have to worry about Sa'luk ever again."

The others nodded in agreement, before Aladdin removed the cloth from the hand of Midas, handed it over to his father as he said, "After all these years, you finally have your treasure."

Cassim took it, while replying, "This thing? No." shaking his head in distaste and realisation. "This reteched thing almost costed me the Ultimate Treasure." glancing at Aladdin, he smiled, saying, "It's you, son. You, are my ultimate treasure." as he and his son both embraced lovingly. Lea, Roxas and Isa all smiled at this heartwarming moment. Also, seeing this made Isa realise something as well, as he glanced at Lea who caught the expression of a warmhearted smile, and Lea returned the smile, nodding as they knew, they, Roxas, Xion and Namine, would always be together forever.

As the father and son let go, Cassim admitted, "I'm just sorry it took me this long to realise it." before glaring at the item in his hand, saying, "The Hand of Midas can take its curse to the bottom of the sea!" and with that, he threw the item towards the ocean, all of them unaware that it actually landed onto the thieves' ship, while the last seven remnants of the Forty Thieves gazed at it, and all were stunned when their ship turned into solid gold.

Unfortunately for the thieves, because that the boat turned from floatable wood into a sinkable gold like a rock, the boat immediately sank, leaving the thieves to float helplessly in the ocean with no help.

Back to Lea and the others, they all noticed that the water was getting closer, and as Roxas looked around, asking, "Where are Xion, Namine and the others?"

"There!" Isa pointed, looking down below, as Xion, Namine, Jasmine, Abu, Carpet, and Iago were all on top of a tower, avoiding in drowning, though the Isle was sinking faster.

"I didn't see where they went! They could be anywhere!" Iago shouted. He was still a bit sore from his last flight, and didn't feel right to leave his friends behind.

"There they are!" Namine, Xion and Jasmine pointed up towards the five males who all jumped down towards them.

"Come, you blasted rug!" Cassim shouted.

Carpet, taking the message, immediatley flew up, and caught the five of them, before catching the rest of the group in a tight room, but it was better than nothing, as they all watched the island sink and disappear into the ocean before it resurfaces in another spot in another part of the world. There wasn't any sign of Genie, though.

However, their worries were died down, as the Turtle's head came up, opening it's mouth to let out...smoke? And out of the mouth, came Genie who turned into Mickey from the Timeless River on the black and white steam boat, whistling, as behind him, the turtle sank back into the ocean.

Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion and Namine all quirked eyebrows at this, as Lea muttered, "Since when was King Mickey all black and white?" even though he knew the Mickey below them was Genie.

"Genie!" Aladdin called.

Genie returned to normal as he turned into an airplane, allowing Lea and his group to get onto him for some comfortable room and room for Aladdin and his group.

"Let's go home." Aladdin says, looking at Jasmine and added, "We have some unfinished business."

With that, the group flew away back to Agrabah. However, they were all unaware that someone whom Lea and Isa thought had drowned had managed to escape, and to make things worse, that certain someone may have some company.

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><p>When they returned to Agrabah, Lea, Roxas, Isa, Xion and Namine decided that it was time to get going, and, despite being invited to the wedding, they declined, and said that they'll tell Sora and others about it. Aladdin and Jasmine wished them well and the group said their goodbyes, and they said goodbye to Cassim who decided to travel the world, with Iago, who decided to leave because of his distaste in romance, as his companion.<p>

With that, the five worldly travellers left the Palace through the streets of agrabah to continue their journey, believing that they had done enough for what Tia Dalma told them, and decided that they will head over to Disney Castle now.

"We better get those answers and see what we can do to help, in case Xehanort decides to come back." Lea states.

The others nodded, and began to walk again, but Lea noticed that Isa just stood there, and, worried for his friend, approached the blue-haired man. "Hey. You alright?" Lea asked, concerned for his childhood friend.

Sighing, Isa shifted his eyes to glance at Lea, and said, "I almost lost you again. When you turned into solid gold, I...I couldn't bear in letting you die."

It made sense, as Lea understood what his friend was saying. Crossing his arms, Lea admitted, "I think I know how Sa'luk felt when he turned into a statue. It was...so painful. It felt kinda worse than when my heart was taken out. I...I never felt so scared in my life, the feeling being frozen like that."

"I'm sorry, Lea." Isa turned fully to him now. "When you requested me to take care of Roxas, Xion and Namine, I couldn't handle in taking your place. I wouldn't be able to handle it."

"You're the only one I trust to care of them if I die again." Lea pointed out. "Even though I don't want to lose either of you again."

"We all feel the same for you guys." came Namine's voice, as both men turned to see that she, Xion and Roxas returned, having heard their conversation, and joined them with smiles.

"None of us want to lose each other, right?" Roxas said, "So, we're all gonna stay together, no matter what."

"We're all friends, right?" Xion added.

Seeing this made both men smile, and while Isa nodded, Lea said, "You know what I learned today?"

"What's that?" Isa asked.

Lea softly chuckled, before bringing all of his friends closer to him, with a warm smile, as he admitted, "For one thing, all four of you guys are my Ultimate Treasure. Because you're my family." as deep in his heart, he loved them so much.

Hearing this made Lea's friends smile and they all embraced in a group hug, their hearts touched and connected forever, all of them knowing, they all belong together, and they were going to stay together.

After letting go, they summoned a corridor of darkness and entered to head over towards their true destination, where more secrets shall be revealed.

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><p>Meanwhile, in an familiar world within the Realm of Sleep, the young silver-haired youth and an old man with circle glasses in a lab coat arrived in a white room where thirteen high thrones stood, with the symbols that are no doubt are for Nobodies. Waiting for them, were Kadaj and his men, Azul, Rosso, and two other men, one shirtless and white hair and long katana-like gunblades, and another, with a mask on his mouth, a black uniform that has darkness seeping out, and metal wings on his back and black hair, waited.<p>

With them are Xemnas and 'Ansem' who all smirked. At this, the old man in the white coat smiled as well.

"I gather that you are the one who created Sephiroth; Professor Hojo." said Xemnas.

Hojo, the man's name, cackled, "Yes, indeed. So, I gather I'll be hearing about a plan that could be worth in researching."

"We need you to tell us about a certain someone who has blocked all our attempts to get to both Sora and Riku, one that a certain rival of yours has created." The silver-haired Youth stated.

Hojo shook his head, frowning as he stated, "_That_ experiment? That fool Hollander once made him believe he could cure that pitiful failure from degradtion! A hack like that man couldn't even cure a cold." shrugging as if it was the saddest thing in the world.

"Who cares about that?" Kadaj said impaitently. "What my brothers and I are really after is Mother. Our big brother is connected to all this, but that fool ShinRa knows something more than he says."

"If you're speaking about Rufus, then that boy and his pathetic Turks have no idea about anything!" Hojo stated.

"Be patient, Kadaj." 'Ansem' says. "We'll find Jenova's remains soon enough, as soon as we get what our real-self's needs, the three vessels who are time and time again saved by our enemies. However, I believe that Riku and another serve better than Sora and Cloud."

"Yes," said the man in the mask. "Vincent; the keeper of the Protomateria. He is obivious to his true destiny. We must see to that, as soon as our guests arrive."

"Our time is running short." said the man in the white hair. "We must make haste."

All of them nodded in agreement, and Hojo smiled evilly at this. He has gotten what he has, all he needs now are his specimens and then he can finally achive his ultimate goal. However, he is unaware that someone else had plans that are also deadly.

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><p><strong>AN: It seems that Deepground has joined the real Organization XIII, with a few differences as you all know. Next time, Lea and his friends learn more secrets, and certain Final Fantasy characters will make important roles.**

**What do you think so far? Please continue your awesome reviews!**


	14. Experiments

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Sorry that I haven't been writing for a while. Been busy in looking after my parents who are both sick that they can hardly move, I haven't even had the time to study, do my normal habit routines or even sleep!**

**In any case, let's continue. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Those rights belong to Square Enix(Disney owns half of Kingdom Hearts, though).**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH14: Experiments.<strong>_

Within the Realm of Sleep, Riku, who, in his mark of mastery, now wore a white shirt, blue jeans, sneakers and on the back of his shirt, unknown to him, was a Dream Eater symbol. He was in the fifth world to awaken from sleep, and he hasn't even found Sora yet. In this world, a world full of beings called Pokemon who live along side humans, it seemed to have been suffering the same nightmares since it fell into the darkness but never awakened even after Sora restored the worlds by defeating Xehanort's Heartless.

Right now, though, this world had it's own young hero, a boy named Ash Ketchum who is ten years old, a Pokemon trainer with a Pokemon Pikachu, and his human friends, Misty, and Brock, and they, along with Pikachu's clone, a Meowth who can speak human language, and his own clone who only speaks Pokemon language, all race to rescue a Mewtwo who is trapped within an entrapment that is killing him.

"Pikapi!" cried PikaTwo, as they all reached Mewtwo.

Mewtwo, a super clone of Mew, looked back and grunted in pain, though with relief that his fellow clones who are also his friends are alright, says in human language, "I am glad you are safe." before he grunted in pain again, stating, "But I can't bear this much longer!" as he continued to be hurt by the shock that the machines are producing. Machines built by the evil organization known as Team Rocket who wish to rule the world and enslave both humans and Pokemon.

"Mewtwo." Ash spoke up to the Pokemon, having a sense of deja vu.

Shocked, Mewtwo turned to face Ash, asking, "How do you know my name?"

"We heard it from Meowth." Riku answered, as Ash continued, "Meowth told us that you're the one who saved my Pikachu." before the raven-haired boy said in determination, "There's got to be some way to help you, now."

Seeing that these humans want to help him, Mewtwo told him, "Stop these machines!"

And the group tried to figure out how to turn them off. "Maybe there's an off switch." Misty, a red-haired twelve year old girl, asked desparately.

Brock, who is around Riku and Sora's age, looked, but he cried out, "It's no use, they all sealed up." to the others.

Ash wasn't one to give up, so he declared, "Well, we'll have to tackle 'em!" and he and Brock, and the Pokemon with them tackled one of the machines as hard as they could, and Riku tried to destory the machines with his Keyblade and whacked it as hard as he could, but despite managing to knock it over, the machine just routated it's eye-view, keeping Mewtwo trapped.

Grunting, Riku called up to the trapped Pokemon-clone, "We can't stop it!"

"Then I must use what remains of my power." Mewtwo finally decides, despite that knowing that he will die, he's willing to at least destroy the machines. Then with a massive scream, he powers up with all of his strength, heating up the machines that are on the verge of exploding, but he is also on a verge of getting killed, as from the looks of things, it's almost as if he was about to be deleted like a computer program, which reminded Riku of the Grid he recently just freed from Sleep, and he was possitive that Sora did as well, but there was no time.

"Hang in there, Mewtwo!" Ash screamed, trying to encourage the Pokemon not to give up.

"You can do it!" Misty added.

Both Pikachu and PikaTwo cried out, "Pika!"

Seeing how the machine was about to get destroyed, Riku knew what to do, and rushed over to the machine and with a mighty swing and toss of his Keyblade that he learned from Sora but in his own style, the Keyblade hit it's mark, slicing the over-heated machine in half, causing it to explode. With one of the machines gone, Mewtwo, who is badly hurt, falls and collaspes onto the ground, while the other machine, confused and at loss and overheated, eventually explodes itself up. Everyone gathers around the weakened Mewtwo who can barely move.

"You did it!" Ash said in relief, "You beat them!"

"Yes..." Mewtwo said weakly, "But I have also destroyed myself." accepting his fate to fade away.

However, the two Pikachus, devastated, both tugged onto Mewtwo's arm, crying out in the Pokemon language which only Meowth could translate. "The Spring. They're saying come to the Spring, Mewtwo!" the feline Pokemon told them.

"The water revived the Pikachu. It can do the same for Mewtwo." Riku stated, as he recalled how that happened.

Ash nodded in agreement, saying, "Then let's go there." as he quickly bends to help the weak Pokemon, with the help of his friends and Riku who, seeing this, for a split second, sees Sora in Ash's place before his vision returned to normal.

"You're not going anywhere." said an evil voice behind the group who turned to see that it was Giovanni, the evil leader of Team Rocket, who, along with his Organization, had arrived and he continued, "Mewtwo belongs to me and I alone will be the one to decide, whether he will survive or not."

"I don't think so!" Riku declared, standing up and pointing his Keyblade threateningly at the villians, while Misty and Brock called out their Pokemon from their Pokeballs. Riku then turns back to Ash and says to him, as if he's speaking to Sora instead, "Take Mewtwo to the Spring!"

"Okay!" Ash agreed, and began to drag Mewtwo to the Spring.

(**Cue for KH-DDD Dread of the Night BGM! ^_^**)

"NO!" Giovanni shouts, seeing his 'experiment' taken away from him. However, before he and his army could chase after Ash and Mewtwo, a large number of Pokemon appeared, surrounding the villians.

Seeing this, Giovanni sneered evilly at them, and to Riku's eyes, the man's body begins to become covered in darkness, sign that says that his heart is being consumed. Giovanni then says to the Pokemon, "So you wish to defy me as your leader has? Very well then, I'll crash you, too."

At his words, all of a sudden, a large giant Dream Eater-Nightmare, taking form of a Pterodactyl, appeared at his silent comand, and as Giovanni climbs onto it's back, it flies up to the Spring, much to everyone's shock.

"No you don't!" Riku shouts, giving chase along with his own friendly Dream Eaters to try and stop the Nightmare and Giovanni. They arrived just after Ash, after an argument with Cullen, had thrown Mewtwo into the Spring, and Giovanni's Nightmare begins to destroy the place.

"They're here!" Ash shouts.

"Tell me where Mewtwo is!" Giovanni demands, while his Nightmare continues to destroy the place.

Cullen, horrified, yells out the evil man, "Stop this! You can't come here and destroy this place!"

Giovanni begged to differ, as he says with an evil grin, "Yes I can! This place belongs to me!"

"Over my dead body!" Riku shouts as he slashs at Giovanni and his Nightmare who both dodge, while Riku lands on the shore near the Spring.

"Riku!" Ash cried out, relieved.

"You again!" Giovanni cursed at the silver-haired seventeen year old who glared back.

"All you want to do is take over the world and make everyone, people and Pokemon your slaves, as if they're nothing but experiments and toys, so you could play puppet master." Riku says angrily at the leader of Team Rocket. He could see, that like Xehanort, Giovanni wants to accomplish the evil impossible. In Riku's eyes, experiments equals the end of life.

Giovanni then smiled evilly, and replies, "That is because, I AM the only true being in this world!"

However, just as he said this, all of the sudden, shooting out of the water like a fountain, Mewtwo appeared behind the evil man, glowing impressivly in blue light, glaring anger at him, as the Pokemon says, "You will not Defile this place or this world! You are not the only being! The world does not belong to you! ANYMORE than I do!"

With that said, he then makes the light glow even brighter, covering up the area, and immediately destroying the Nightmare-Dream Eater as well, as he declared, "This place has given me new life." as the beam of light shoots up into the sky. "Now I shall use all my power to defend it.

(**And the music ends, replaced by Sky-Blue eyes Crisis Core BGM**)

The Light blinds everyone, causing them to cover their eyes. However, when it died out, Riku unshielded his eyes, and looked around, gasping in surprise. The Spring was alright, but he was the only one there. Mewtwo, Giovanni, Ash, Luna and Cullen had disappeared. Everything was quiet.

Sighing, Riku said to himself, "Despite that, he used his power to save this place, that's when this world was taken over by the Heartless. Though Ash and the others are alright, this world is trapped in a never-ending sleep. It's like Yen Sid said."

Pausing, Riku added to himself, "Giovanni tried to do what Xehanort would want, and what Maleficent wants; Domination, by using others as puppets, calling out the darkness within them."

"People who believe they are the superior of man kind could experiment on their own people, like those who are innocent are nothing but movable toys that can played with." a voice behind him said, alerting Riku to turn around and as he seen him before many times, including like back the first time in Traverse Town he briefly saw Sora, the man in red-Genesis, approach.

Despite that Genesis had made a few good points before, Riku didn't trust him. "What do you mean by that?" Riku asked, not wanting to let his guard down.

Genesis stopped beside Riku and close to the edge of the Spring, saying, "A monster who is more human at heart, and a man who is more monster at heart. Those monsters create monsters who only know the truth as they grow up."

He paused with a smirk, and added, "However, they are ways to create clones, even by placing a piece of once's DNA, cells, or perhaps a piece of their own heart into perfect vessels. In Mewtwo's case, he was created by scratch, and thus, when he awakened, he was given a soul, a heart, a gift, from the Goddess. Same as Sora's replica, who, on her own, as created a soul and heart of her own, because of the love Roxas and Axel had given her."

"You know more than you say." Riku realised, sensing that Genesis knew about Xion, who she too, is a creation from scratch. He then realised that Xion and Mewtwo have a few things in common; both were created, both developed on their own, and both have their own souls and hearts. In Xion's case, she chose to return to Sora to help both him and Roxas, which in turn, Sora's heart, Kairi's light and Lea's wish brought Xion back, making her into a new complete human being, along with Roxas and Namine. In Mewtwo's case, Ash's aid and the Lake's cure has given the Pokemon a second chance; no, more like a second Life.

A second life. Just like Xion, Roxas, Namine and Lea are having now.

"_My soul corrupted by vengeance_," Genesis quoted again, "_Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey in my own salvation and your eternal slumber._"

Riku rolled his eyes, muttering, "Boy, you like making a lot of poerities."

The man in red-coat chuckled, turning to face Riku again, and says, "Consider yourself lucky, Riku."

"Lucky?" Riku repeated in confusion.

"You and Sora are destined to end the horrors of Xehanort's Chaos-soul." was Genesis' reply before he disappeared in the mixture of light and darkness, only confusing Riku even further.

Riku could only stare at the spot where Genesis was. "Me and Sora...destined to end Xehanort's Chaos-soul? What did he mean by that?" he asked himself.

Despite having no answer, Riku knew that it was time to go. He still has more worlds to unlock and awaken from sleep, and a friend to find. As if on cue, the Keyhole appeared above him, and, summoning his Keyblade again, he pointed the blade at the Keyhole and the light beam hits it, cracking open another portal to his next destination. (**And music ends again**)

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, outside the Realm of Sleep, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa and Namine were just about to approach their exit towards their destination, when they noticed something in the exit. Getting a bit closer, everyone's eyes widen in shock as they realise, inside the Library of Disney Castle, were King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and on the other side of the room, where Maleficent and Pete who was holding Queen Minnie hostage. They were in trouble!<p>

"Not those two again." Lea grumbled, remembering that he encountered them at the Castle that Never Was before confronting Xemnas.

"I remember those two." Isa sighed, "Maleficent tried to use the Heartless to get rid of me when I was Saix." he mentally cringed at the memory.

Namine gasped as she covered her mouth in horror as the scene unfolded.

They can could hear what Maleficent was saying at the end of her seemingly conversation, "I see you have failed to recognize the futility of your situation. Very well..." before she raised her staff, declaring, "Face your doom!" and fires a fire-spell to kill Mickey and the others.

"NO!" Roxas screamed, summoning his Keyblade, as did Xion, while Lea and Isa both summoned their weapons and rushed over, with Isa throwing his Claymore and Lea throwing one of his Chakrams and Xion throwing her Keyblade straight towards the group, the three weapons landing in front of Mickey, Donald and Goofy who had braced themselves, but realised that they were still alive, and that the weapons had blocked Maleficent's attack, while Lea threw his other Chakram and Roxas threw his Keyblade, both weapons flying towards Pete who, in a panic, unknowingly lets Minnie go and barely dodges the two weapons.

Seeing that she was free, Minnie wasted no time as she summoned up, "LIGHT!" to stun the evil villians, blinding Maleficent and knocking Pete to the floor, before the young Queen rushed over towards her King who in turn rushed over to her, and the two lovers held each other's hands, relieved that they together again, and Mickey was relieved that Minnie was alright, unharmed and safe. They then turned to Maleficent, and Mickey had Minnie stand behind him, Donald and Goofy who both summoned their weapons, while Mickey summoned his Kingdom Key-D Keyblade, all preparing to fight if they have to.

"Maleficent!" Mickey snarled, "You _**lose**_!"

Maleficent could only glare at them angrily, though Pete, seeing how they were outnumbered, especially since some unwanted company had saved Mickey and the others, said, "Say, uh, milady, I think the pipsqueak's right. We better hit the road!" while getting up and now was nervous.

Unfazed, though knowing she had no choice, Maleficent replied to Mickey, "I now know that what I seek lies within these walls. Trust that I will eliminate you in good time." before summoning a corridor of darkness, and calmly walked into it.

Pete, a split second late, quickly and panickly rushed to follow her, crying out, "Hey! Wait for me! Maleficent? Waaait!" before both of them disappeared into the corridor, while in the one next to Mickey and the others, Roxas and his group, relieved that they made it just in time, walked out with relieved smiles, as Roxas, Xion, Lea and Isa picked up their weapons and de-summoned them. Namine followed she rushed over to the others.

"Is everyone alright?" The former Nobody of Kairi asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Namine. We're fine." Mickey replied, before turning to face the others again, and said, "You used the the darkness to get here? That was reckless."

Lea shrugged, "At least in our case, it comes in handy." with an somewhat embarrassed and clueless smirk.

"You're always the one to do reckless things. Did you teach Roxas that?" Isa asked.

Seeing the familiar blue-haired man, Mickey added, "Well, gosh, I kinda knew that Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine would come, but I didn't think you'd help to save us...Saix."

"Saix no longer controls me." Isa replied, to Donald's confusion. He then added, "My name is Isa-Lea's childhood friend."

Mickey and the others were stunned to hear this, as Mickey once recalled Donald and Goofy telling him a bit about Lea's tragic past that occurred eleven years ago, how the redhead lost his first best friend, and how, as Axel, he cried when Saix died again. If that's true, then that could mean only one thing. They glanced at Lea who nodded.

"Don't worry, Isa's back to normal." Lea assured. "Sorry that we couldn't come here sooner. Things kinda happened while we were on our way here."

"What are you talking about?" Donald asked.

It was Roxas who answered, "All of the Organization XIII had came back as humans, kinda like what happened to Lea a year ago. So far, Isa and four others awoke back in Radiant Garden, and well, Namine told us about those who are connected to Sora's heart." before he and his group went into a half-full explanation on what's going on, including that Braig, the original of Xigbar, has tried to take Isa away for some reason, and that a silver-haired youth appeared out of nowhere, and how Roxas and Xion keep on having dreams on Ventus' memories.

It wasn't until after Ventus was mentioned that Mickey's eyes went wide and he asked to Lea and Isa, "You both knew Ven?"

"We didn't get to know him that well, since we only saw him once," Lea rubbed the back of his neck, "But yeah, we met the guy twelve years ago. Haven't seen him since then."

"It must've been before he lost his heart." Mickey realised. Then a thought occurred to him and he turned to Roxas, and admitted, "Come to think of it, Roxas, you're kinda like Ventus never went to sleep at all." then he wondered, "But what I don't understand is that why you and Xion are seeing Ven's memories."

"Ienzo, who was Zexion as a Nobody before returning to normal, says that even though Rox' and Xi' are humans now, they're still connected with Sora." Lea said, "Though it's still weird how that kid could have other people's memories in his heart."

"Gwarsh, I didn't know that Sora, Roxas and Xion had Venquest's memories." Goofy thought, while having misprounnanced Ventus's name like he did twelve years ago, much to Donald's annoyance.

Donald grumbled, muttering, "Goofy, just call him Ven."

"That's why we came here." Isa said, "Can you help us in solving this problem?"

Despite not having good terms with Saix, Mickey could see the strong difference in Isa, the normal eyes that match Lea's, the normal human ears that didn't remind him of Xehanort, and so, the King decided to trust him, since Roxas, Xion and Namine seem comfortable and Lea is relieved to have his best friend back.

The King nodded, "I guess we could use all the help we can get. Plus, you saved us from Maleficent, so, sure, why not?" then he said, "But we better get back to Master Yen Sid. I bet he would know about this."

"You mean that Sorcerer who taught you every cool stuff you know?" Lea asked, having recalled hearing about the Sorcerer from Roxas and Xion.

"Wait, does that mean..." Roxas trailled off, as realization dawned onto him, and even to Xion, Namine and then to Lea and Isa who both caught on, and their eyes widened in shock. All five of them muttering, "Xehanort." realising that they forgot about the one who caused the whole mess in the first place.

Mickey nodded in sad agreement. "Yup. After Ansem and Xemnas were beaten, their disappearances would bring Xehanort back, and he's the one who's responsible for having Ven losing his heart."

"Isn't there someone else who's causing problems?" Xion blurted, causing everyone to look at her.

"Whadd'ya mean?" Mickey asked, puzzled.

Xion hesitated, not wanting to bring up the horrible visions she had lately but forced herself to do so, and said, "I keep seeing Ven's memories, and in all of them, there's this...evil old man. He wanted to use Ven for some kind of X-Blade, and in one of them, you were there, your majesty."

Hearing this made Mickey's eyes widen in horror. "No..." before having a flash-back of his own, one from twelve years ago, when he was still training to become a Keyblade Master.

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Flash-Back; During the events of Birth By Sleep-Aqua's tale.<strong>_

_Mickey and Aqua both looked up to see Ventus standing, and while Aqua was relieved that the boy was alright, Mickey stopped and noticed an unusual Keyblade, one that looked like a sword more than anything, and he could feel something...quite evil about that blade, causing alarm bells ring inside his head._

_Suddenly the young King realised that something's wrong, and Ventus then tried to attack Aqua who was caught by surprise. Not willing to have his friend get hurt, Mickey summoned his Star-Seeker Keyblade, leaped and then blocked Ven's attack just in time, knocking it off course, before landing in front of Aqua, his arms spread out to protect her, as he sensed that the boy in front of him didn't have his heart._

_"That's not Ven!" Mickey said accussingly at 'Ven' who eyes were now golden instead of normal blue, and his armor changed into Vanitas's._

_The boy smirked evilly, replying, in two voices, one of Ven's and one of Vanitas. "__**Correct. I am not Ventus. His heart has become a part of mine now.**__" much to Mickey's and Aqua's horror, as they both realised what happened. Vanitas has merged with Ven who didn't have a choice and is now trapped within Vanitas's heart._

_Vanitas-Ventus than explains as he points up the X-Blade, towards the blue heart-shaped Moon that Xehanort summoned, "__**This X-blade will open a door-one that leads to all worlds! Then, Keyblade-bearing warriors will flock here from each and every one of them, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts! And just like the legend says, the Keyblade War will begin!**__"_

_"Shut up!" Aqua shouted as she and Mickey both got into fighting stances, hoping to save Ven, as she continued, "I'm sick of your nonsense! Give Ven his heart back!"_

_The three fought on, but as it turns out, numbers didn't matter, because Vanitas knocked them both away as Mickey and Aqua charged, and while Aquahits a rock and then falls to the ground, Mickey ended up rolling like a cannon-ball until he stopped and he lost consciousness._

_When he came to, he felt an Earthquake, and when he became aware, Mickey saw bright light threatening to explode, and his gut told him it wasn't good news. "Oh no!" he cried, "It...it's gone all haywire!" as he rushed over to try and save his friends._

_However, he couldn't do anything, as the blast was too powerful, and it blew Ven who somehow returned to normal but lost consciousness, and Aqua raced to try and catch im, while Mickey was left helplessly trying to prevent himself from being killed. In the huge blast it finally covered them, and Mickey and Aqua both screamed until they lost conscious._

_When Mickey had regained consciousness again, he found himself back in the Lanes Between, thanks to the Star Shard, and, seeing Aqua and Ventus in their armor, with their helmets again and holding hands, he floats to them, holds Aqua's hand and silently asked the StarShard to take them back to Yen Sid's tower._

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>End of Flash-Back.<strong>_

Mickey never understood back then on how or why Ven lost his heart, and that mysterious X-Blade. Now he did half understand. He looked firmly at Xion and said, "Xion, that man you saw that was with Ven...that was Xehanort-the real Xehanort."

"What!?" Xion, Roxas, Namine, Lea and Isa cried out, shocked.

"That...that was Xehanort?" Xion asked, "But how...?"

Lea shook his head in disbelief, saying, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Are you saying that the old koot Xion kept on seeing in her nightmares was Xehanort? No way! How could it be the same guy? The Xehanort Isa and I met was in his twenties, silver hair, red-ish eyes, and he had a Keyblade!"

"I know, I and met that Xehanort too." Mickey nodded, "I don't know why, but when I first met that Xehanort when I told Ansem the Wise about the worries I had for the Worlds, I thought it was a different Xehanort. But I can guess that during the battle in a place where I last saw Ven awake when the X-blade that he and Xehanort made was destroyed by Aqua, it's explosion may have caused Xehanort to become younger."

"And lose his memories until he decided to kill everyone and turn us into Nobodies?" Isa asked skeptically, before saying, "That doesn't sound right to me."

"And right then, after Ventus lost his heart, he and Sora then somehow became connected in a special way." Namine added in worry. "If Sora's not careful, the memories he has will break his heart."

"What about this Terra guy?" Roxas asked, "In my dreams, I see Ven and Terra in them, and those two remind me of Sora and Riku, and me and Lea when he was Axel."

Mickey sighed, and answered, "Terra...he disappeared. I still don't know where he is. At least I know that Aqua is trapped within the Realm of Darkness, and I'm sure that we're close in figuring out where Ven's heart is."

"What about his body? Where'd that go?" Lea asked.

"Oh, Aqua placed him somewhere safe." Mickey replied.

"I get is." Roxas thought. "So, to find and help Ven, Aqua is the only one who knows where he is, and she needs to be rescued first, right?"

All this information was causing Lea to feel so uncomfortable that he was remembering when Xehanort killed him back eleven years ago. He then couldn't help but ask, "When was the last place Terra was seen?"

"At the Keyblade Graveyard. That's what Aqua told me." Mickey answered, "And Xehanort disappeared there too, only to appear in Radiant Garden."

That's what Lea was afraid of, because once again, he recalled on Braig's words to Xehanort, and Xigbar's last words to him as Axel.

"_Do you remember now, or...Wait, did you never lose your memory?_"

"_With Xehanort...anything is possible._"

Suddenly it made sense as Lea's eyes widened in a horrified realization. "I think I have a thoery on how Terra disappeared and how Xehanort turned young again." causing everyone to stare at him, and, seeing his expression made them worried.

"What do you mean?" Isa asked, before he realised what his best friend meant, and muttered, "Of course...Perhaps Terra reappeared with Xehanort, and we never knew it."

"Whadd'ya mean? I'm kinda confused." Goofy asked.

Lea shrugged, "Well, think about it. People don't just go poof and disappear and never to be seen again, and old guys don't just turn young again, unless they had some kind of Fountain of Youth thing happening, losing their memories for a year until they got them back again." he paused, before looking at Donald and Goofy, adding, "And you guys remember how Xehanort's Heartless took over Riku's body to rematerialize himself before you guys and Sora managed to stop him, right?"

Realisation dawn on everyone, as Mickey gasped, before lowering his head. "No...How could I have not seen that!?" he cursed at himself for being so stupid. He looked up and said, "Xehanort took over Terra's heart and body! That's why he was familiar!"

"WHAAAAT!?" Donald, Goofy, Namine, Roxas and Xion gasped in horror. Even Minnie gasped, Isa's eyes widened in shock, and Lea grumbled.

The redhead sighed, "Well, crud. I was hoping that I was wrong."

"But, if that's true, then Terra should come back, right? I mean, Xehanort turned into a Heartless and created Xemnas." Roxas pointed out.

"Well, I'm not sure." Mickey replied, "But one way or another, I gotta get back to Yen Sid!"

"I'm afraid that cannot happen." a new voice joined them, alerting everyone.

"Who's there!?" Lea demanded as they all looked to see, and out of a corridor that wasn't light or darkness, walked in two women, one who was in her twenties, and another who looked like she was only ten years old, but held saber-weapons in her hands. The group could tell that the two girls were related, and as Lea looked at them, his eyes widen as he recalled who they were.

(**Ten Year Reunion-Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII BGM**)

"You!" Lea hissed accussingly, glaring daggers at the youngest who's expression was emotionless. "You're the one who trapped my friends and I in that cage on that Cannibal island!"

"It was for the best, Lea, former 8th member of Organzation XIII." said the youngest girl, who is Shelke.

"You call knocking us out and putting out lives in danger in getting killed for the best!?" Roxas yelled, ready to summon his Keyblade.

The older woman, Shalua, who was the one who had replied to Mickey, said, "We had to buy time to prevent our enemies from gaining vessels. Your hearts are too clouded and need to be returned to darkness."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Mickey demanded, summoning his Keyblade again, this time, he chose his Star-Seeker.

"Shalua Rai," Shalua answered, and added while gesturing to the girl next to her, "And this is Shelke, my younger sister."

"What do you want?" Donald demanded.

"To stop the enemy from destroying the Realm of Light." Shelke answered, "First, we need to destroy the vessels that are a serious threat." staring directly at Lea, Isa, Roxas, Namine and Xion who blinked before glaring at her again.

"We're not vessels!" Roxas pointed out.

"To the enemy, everyone is nothing but tools." Shalua stated, taking some kind of marble and held it up, just as a bright light shined, blinding everyone briefly, before they felt movement, and then Namine screaming, alarming them as the light faded.

"Namine!" Roxas and Lea cried out as they and the others turned around, to see that Shelke and Shalua, in the distraction, had taken Namine hostage, and were now opening a portal to somewhere else. Without second thought, Roxas rushed in as the three women entered it, Namine struggling to get free.

"Roxas!" Lea shouted, quickly following, with Isa and Xion. Mickey and the others all glanced at each other, before Minnie nodded at them, knowing what has to be done.

"Be careful." Minnie said.

Mickey nodded, "Stay safe, Min'." before he nodded to Donald and Goofy who both nodded in determinded agreement, before the trio quickly rushed into the portal before it closed, leaving Minnie all by herself in the Library.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I know that the soundtrack is later than expected, but I figured that you guys would know that most of the music(even though it's not in the story itself and I don't own them, but anyway) are from KH2 and BBS, I love the KH music, and even the FFVII music, especially Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core. And I had to add in a little something with Riku, and I will extend Sora in the later chapters, and I love Pokemon, so, I kinda replaced Mickey, Donald and Goofy the Three Musketeers world for that, since, why have two worlds with Mickey's past?  
><strong>

**Anyway, what will happen next? Are Shelke and Shalua allies or foes? Will Roxas and the others safe Namine and get the answers they desperately seek? What are the strange people seeking? What will become of Sora and Riku? Let's found out next time!**

**Please continue your awesome reviews, everyone. I might not be back for a while, though, due to the next couple of weeks are gonna be very busy, starting tomorrow. But I **_**will**_**, without a doubt, return.**


	15. Half of the Dark Truth

**Second Life**

**Author's note: Sad news. Chikao ****Ōtsuka****, the Japanese voice actor of Master Xehanort, passed away on the 15th this month due to heart failure. I pass my sorrows for his family, especially his son. I feel terrible for all of them. Nothing worse than losing someone(especially your parents) you love.**

**His death will probably also delay KH3 even further and massive changes to the storyline, making the game the final KH game of the series, so, there'll probably be no news for this year(though I hope that I'm wrong for this one).**

**RIP, Chikao ****Ōtsuka****. I think we shall continue on. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

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><p><em><strong>CH15: Half of the Dark Truth.<strong>_

Emerging from the portal, Roxas and the others found themselves in some kind of building with blue walls that looked like they were made out of plastic and glass. Roxas, Lea, Isa, Xion, Mickey, Donald and Goofy didn't have time to ponder on what this place was, though, because they had to focus on saving Namine from Shalua and Shelke. They were in a hall with several automatic doors, and in front of them, was the three women, with Namine held captive in Shalua's good arm, and Shelke having her weapons at ready.

Seeing this made the group summon their weapons as well.

"Let Namine go!" Roxas ordered.

Shalua looked sternly at him, saying while tightening her hold on the blonde-haired girl, "I don't think so. I have to admit, it's astonding how Sora managed to do what he did, similiar to Vincent possessing a kind of power, and Cloud surviving as long as he had."

"Huh?" Goofy asked, confused.

Though something snapped in Lea's head, and his eyes narrowed, sneering, "You were spying on us." accusingly.

"For how long?" Isa inquired, glaring at the two red-haired women.

"Since that day Cloud returned here, and when he took Vincent with him to Radiant Garden." Shelke explained, "For weeks, we kept an eye on you, and followed you and tried to prevent the enemy from gaining control. The only way to defeat him and our other enemies...is for Sora to only focus on saving the worlds, and abandon his mission to save those connected to his heart-and let them die."

"WHAAT!?" The group cried in horror. Donald then snapped an anger, "How dare you say that about Sora!?"

"Would you rather the worlds suffer only eight people to live, or have eight of those die for the sake of the worlds?" Shalua challenged.

Lea felt so much anger rise inside him, but he tried to control it, but he was struggling. "You both..." he began at Shelke and Shalua, his voice quivering in fury, "...Think you can save the worlds by killing us? Force us to disappear again? And force the other three who suffered to continue suffering forever? Well, I'm sick of it! Sick of losing the people that I love! Sick of everyone having to suffer, all because one stupid koot wants to destroy the worlds!"

And as he points one of his Chakrams at Shelke, he concluded with a shout, "And I'm SICK OF YOU!" though he couldn't contain his anger, as he accidently lets loose fire, surrounding the group, and causing ceiling-fire sprinklers to start falling onto everyone, alarming them, though this distraction gives Mickey a chance to cast sleep on Shalua, and Isa the chance to get Namine, and Shelke lashes at Lea who blocks her laser-swords with his Chakrams, before pushing her back.

Roxas and Xion then both leap at Shelke to attack her, but she dodges out of the way, running in full speed, despite Donald trying to cast Thunder on her, angering the white mage.

"Hold still, would ya!?" Donald yelled.

Mickey preformed several somersaults and managed to hit Shelke a few times, before leaping out of the way to avoiding getting hit, before Isa clashed at the young girl, until he was hit by the lasers-swords, angering Lea who threw his chakrams at Shelke again, but again, she dodged, and he caught his weapons, and Xion blasted a blizzard spell at the girl, with Roxas casting regenate.

Goofy was left to protect Namine and even blocked Shelke's sudden surprise attack with his shield, before he managed to push her away.

Roxas then preformed a double-Keyblade combo thanks to Xion lending him her Keyblade, and double-clashed at Shelke several times before leaping away, but even so, the redhaired-girl refused to give up, and caught Roxas and everyone else off-guard by a powerful blast of laser, throwing them onto the ground, and most of them losing their weapons briefly.

She began to walk towards them, as Lea, now weaponless, noticed Roxas's Keyblade next to him, and, despite not being a Keyblade wielder, an idea occurred to him. Grabbing the handle of the Keyblade, and, briefly surprised that it didn't disappear on him, the red haired man quickly stood up and, moving motionly out of the way, was now behind Shelke and whacked her on the back of the head, causing the girl to stumble before collasping to the floor, unconscious.

While the Keyblade returned to Roxas's hand, the water from the sprinkler stopped, and Lea immediately rushed over to help his friends, who were getting up themselves, seeing that the battle was over.

Though the group were stunned in that Lea had briefly wielded Roxas's Keyblade.

"Lea...how did you...?" Isa asked, disbelieved.

Remembering what happened, and, surprised himself, Lea shrugged, "I have no idea. It didn't disappear in the matter of seconds like it's supposed to. It's really weird."

"The Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony." Namine whispered, getting everyone's attention.

Xion tilted her head a little to the side, confused. "The Keyblade what Ceremony?"

"I never heard of it." Lea muttered, clueless.

"I have." Mickey says, "It's when a Keyblade wielder allows anybody to hold the handle of the Keyblade while the wielder holds the Keyblade at the same time. It allows that Keyblade's power to transfer some of it into the person who would one day be the next Keyblade wielder, as well as a successor. It's not always the case when the Keyblade chooses their master, but it's another way of gaining a Keyblade."

"That's just way too confusing." Isa admitted.

"What does that have to do with-" Roxas was about to ask, but his question was interrupted by several screams, which came from down the hall where a still frozen Shalua is standing and the screams were behind her. Glancing at each other, the group decided to investigate and rushed over, even though Goofy asked, "What about Shelke and Shalua?"

"They can stay there for all I care." was Lea's answer.

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><p>Even though Cloud and Vincent had told Leon about the possibilty's of Xehanort returning, they got a sudden call to return to their world and into the WRO HQ, in which the villians that knocked out the two of them, Tifa and the Gullwings, meeting up with the Turks, and Yuffie, who had sneaked out to help them out, was with them. They had just entered the hallway, as two WRO soldiers were shooting at something, but were knocked down by a third soldier, and when they looked, they could see why.<p>

A large beast, that was twice the size of a Behamoth, all purple and kinda like cross lion cross dinosaur, roared loudly, and it made the group frozen. Reno was shocked frozen, Rude was still, Tseng's eyes were wide, and both Elena and Yuffie gasped in horror.

As for both Cloud and Vincent, all they could mutter was, "What the hell...?"

"Cloud? Vincent? Yuffie?" a familiar voice called, and when the group turned, they were surprised to see that Roxas, his group, and even King Mickey, Donald and Goofy arrived, before the said group turned to see the giant Behamoth, and while Donald and Goofy screamed in horror, Lea cursed, "HOLY CRAP!"

"What the hell is that thing!?" Isa asked, shocked himself.

"Roxas! Xion! Lea! Namine!" Yuffie cried out, surprised.

"Donald? Goofy?" Cloud asked, surprised.

"Mickey?" Vincent asked, staring at the King.

"Uh...guys?" Donald tried to warn the group, but he was ignored.

Lea was about to ask Cloud on what the hell was going on, but his gaze turned to Reno and he stopped, eyes widening as he froze in disbelief and awe. Reno did the same, and they could only stare at each other, obviously because they looked identical to each other. Everyone's eyes(except for Donald who was continuing to stare at the Behamoth that was getting closer) widened, and Rude lifted his shades from his eyes, looking at the two shocked. Roxas and Isa blinked, shocked as well.

"Who're you?" Reno asked, looking at Lea awestruck. Never in his life, has he ever thought that anyone who is not related to him, would look almost exactly like him.

Lea could only snicker at his 'twin' and introduced himself, "Name's Lea. Got it Memorized?" tapping the side of his head again as he said his catchphrase.

"Lea, huh?" Reno thought, then smirked, "I like your style."

"Guys?" Donald tried again, but again, he was ignored.

"This is not the time for the weird introductions." Cloud broke into the conversation, before asking, "What're you guys doing here?"

Mickey was the one who answered, "Well, it's a bit of a long story."

"We had to rescue Namine from two girls who tried to make her, Roxas, Lea, Xion and Isa disappear." Goofy added.

At this, Isa stepped up, and Cloud's eyes widened, asking, "So you're Isa?" realising that his theory was true, and muttered, "I see. Then I was right."

"Right about what, Cloud?" Xion asked.

"ACK! GUYS!" Donald finally screamed, causing everyone to glare at him and snapped, "WHAT!?"

"LOOK!" Donald pointed at the beast, as everyone looked again and just as expected, the Behamoth roared, and stomped towards them. They tried to attack, but no matter what they did, one by one, the group fell, even though they tried again each time, but it was no use.

It wasn't until Namine casted a barrier spell that somehow paraylzed the beast, and to the group's shock, the beast reverted into a mini-giant, one that Cloud, Vincent, Reno and Rude were familiar with, and the four men were horrified to see this.

"Azul!?" Reno cried out, shocked. "When the hell did he learn to turn into a Behamoth!?"

"You know this guy?" Lea asked, shocked to see this as well.

"Namine? When did you learn that barrier spell?" Mickey asked.

Namine shook her head, "It was supposed to protect us. I didn't think it would do...that." pointing at Azul who wasn't impressed.

The miniture-Giant man glared at them with cold eyes, ones that reminded Roxas and his grop of Saix and Xehanort. "Keyblade bearers and their allies. Why do you stand in my way?"

"Excuse us? You're the one who tried to kill us." Isa pointed out.

Instead of being insulted, Azul instead focused on Roxas, and smirked, "The reincarnation of Ventus."

"What?" Roxas asked, shocked.

"You were not an ordinary Nobody." Azul began, "Your original's weak heart was nothing without strong light. Sora would've created a dusk, for it were not another heart inside you, giving you a human form while Sora regained his human form."

"How does he know about this?" Goofy asked, scared, while the others were either shocked or confused.

The Deepground member continued, ignoring what Goofy said. "It makes me sick, to even think that you could pass your Keyblade skills to four of your friends, and that you gained a heart of your own. Tell me, Roxas; can you and Xion feel Ventus?"

"What are you talking about? You're not making sense!" Roxas yelled.

"Our Organization cannot let your heart stand in the way of your true destiny; to become a puppet for your true heart." Azul smirked evilly at the group, concluding, "Your fates has been decided, warriors of light. It is time for you all and your hearts to return to the darkness!"

Though before he could make a step closer, Mickey quickly cried out, "STOPZA!" and used his magic to freeze Azul in time like he did before, confusing the Turks.

"Whoa, never seen that one before." Reno admitted.

"Let's go!" Tseng ordered.

Nodding, the group quickly stood up and rushed into the opened doors, though they knew that the time-freezing spell would not last, but they had to hurry. Thankfully, they made it, and the doors closed behind them. Panting, the group sighed, and Donald collasped to the floor, exhausted.

"That was close." Yuffie panted, her hands on her knees.

"Is everyone alright?" Cloud asked, and each other said their version of that they were fine, though Roxas and Xion were at loss due to what they heard from Azul.

"Guys?" Lea asked as he looked at Roxas and Xion, worried for his friends.

"Was I really...supposed to be Dusk at birth?" Roxas mumbled to himself. In anger, he punched against he wall, exclaiming, "What's going on!?" frustrated for the lack of answers.

Xion could only stare at the boy whom she shares some power with, and only muttered his name in saddness and worry. Then a powerful thud hits the door, causing everyone to look at it worriedly, and then Goofy said scaredly, "We'd better skedaddle!"

"I have no idea what that Goof-brain just said, but I agree with his vote!" Reno muttered.

With that, the group turned and made a run for it, in case Azul breaks the door down and kills them, though Roxas and Xion were even more dishearted than ever, neither of them knowing of what's happening at all.

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><p>A bit later, with the invaders gone, and Shalua and Shelke in cusdoty, Roxas and his group went to explain things to Cloud, Vincent, Yuffie and the Turks, and even to Rufus who, like the others, was a bit surprised to see that Reno and Lea looked and sounded so very alike. Then Cloud went to explain his theory, which, Roxas and his group knew already.<p>

"Okay, so this Sora kid, the same one Cloudy here knows, is the same kid who Roxas and Xion come from?" Reno asked, summing up the whole thing, "And this Ventus kid looks like Roxas, even though they had no connection, and this whole thing started by an old man who wants to destroy the Worlds?"

"He sounds just as worse as Hojo and Sephiroth." Elena thought, rubbing her arms as though she is feeling cold.

Lea sighed, "Yeah, no kidding. Worse part is, he hasn't learned his lesson, and he's willing to hurt people just to get what he wants."

"Similiar to what Hojo would do." Vincent thought, disgusted on the whole thing.

"I guess the situation is a lot worse than we thought, if the Remnants and Deepground are attacking, and that Hojo is still alive, and that Xehanort is back or will come back." Cloud sighed.

"We have no idea where Xehanort is at the moment." Isa said, "We were about to meet with Mickey's teacher when those two sisters attacked us and kidnapped Namine."

"I have a question." Yuffie spoke up, "What did Azul call Roxas reincarnation of Ventus?"

This gave the group a pause, and Mickey thought deeply, "Hmm, good question. I'm not sure why, but Sora did resemble to Ven, the only difference is the hair."

"And despite that, when a strong willed person turns into a heartless, their nobodies take form of their human-selves of what they supposed to look like." Isa recalled, "Though in Roxas's case, he took form that was just like Ventus instead."

"And I didn't have any memories of my past, not even memories when I first joined the Organization until a week later." Roxas muttered. "I thought it was because Sora turned back into a human after turning into a heartless." still haunted on what Azul said.

Lea stood up from the couch he was sitting on and walked up to his friend, having enough of Roxas's pity. "Okay, enough with the, '_Who am I or what am I_' part." The redhead scolded, in a tone that only an older brother would, "Roxas, you should know better that. It's like what Sora kept on believing, even before he realised you were his Nobody."

He paused, then continued, "You're you, no one else, and even now, you're yourself. The only down side is that you and Xion just have Ven's memories that were supposed to be in Sora's heart." while in the background, Reno and Rude glanced at each other, a bit surprised that, even though Reno and Lea share similiar personalities, the latter was kinda like the older brother of the group, while Reno, in his case with Tseng and Rude, was the youngest brother.

Roxas didn't say anything, and this made Lea sigh, before he asked, "Don't you remember back in the old days? You and Xion were able to develop your own emotions, your own personalities. It's because of that, that you two guys made me feel what it was like to have a heart all over again, even though I didn't have one when I was still Axel."

"Not that this is the right time to say it, but it was because of Xion that I remembered that I was fond of dogs before I became Saix." Isa admitted, though it confused the group, except for Xion who looked at him and she nodded, remembering how she looked after Mickey's dog Pluto.

"It was also you who said in some stages that you were worried and that you were scared." Lea added, "Got it memorized?" before stating, "Heck, even Namine showed emotions back at Castle Oblivion."

Namine remembered quite well, how she felt guilty and upset for messing up with Sora's memories, how the boy made her laugh and smile, how scared she was when Maluxia used her as a shield, and how she was happy to see Roxas, Xion and Lea again after Xemnas' defeat.

"I guess." Roxas muttered finally, "But still...I don't know."

"Roxas," Cloud spoke up, walking to him, saying, "I know how you feel. A few years ago, my memories were messed up, because I had some of the memories from my friend, Zack. But it was Tifa who helped me regain my real memories, even though Sephiroth tried to convince me that I was his replica created by Hojo. Don't believe the lies that Azul told you. You're you, and that's all that matters."

"Yeah, kiddo," Reno spoke up in agreement, "Don't let Azul get to ya. That guy is just crazy to boot. Violence is his specialty and he likes to fight to the death with anyone, killing anyone in his way."

"Just one question; Was he always that huge, or did something happen to him?" Lea couldn't help but ask to his 'twin' who smirked.

"He was always that huge when we first met him." Reno answered, getting more comfortable on the couch he was currently lying on, with Rude sitting on the end. The redhaired Turk then continued, "But I guess the experiments Hojo did on him made it worse."

"Experiments?" Donald asked.

Tseng was the one who answered that question, "Before Sephiroth left this world and Cloud went to chase after him, Hojo, the ShinRa Company's head scentist, experimented on many people for his own deeds behind everyone's backs, even Rufus's father who was President at the time."

"Ouch." Lea cringed.

"Gee, didn't you do something about that, Mr, uuhh, Tsong, uh, Tsung, um, Tsing?" Goofy asked while trying to pronannce Tseng's name, much to Donald's annoyance, and Reno tried to cover his laughter, though Elena whacked on the arm, the redhead pouting at the female Turk while grumbling, "Oww..."

Rufus and Tseng both glanced at Mickey who shrugged apologetically at them, the king saying, "Don't mind him, fellas. Goofy's always had trouble in saying some words that are kinda new to him. That includes names."

"I see." Tseng understood with a nod, though he did cast a glare at Reno who tried to hide his laugh with fake coughs. Not that it worked. Thankfully, Rude smacked him on the back of the head, causing the younger man to glare at him.

"But why would anyone do such thing?" Namine asked, a bit scared.

Cloud sighed, "Simple; Hojo thought he was the only living being in the world, that he could play the world like a god."

"Sheesh, even gods know not to play with things that aren't meant to be played with." Lea thought. Roxas, Isa and Xion nodded in agreement.

"Try telling Hojo that." Vincent muttered, "I was one of his experiments and, what you see of me now, is the result of it."

"My father was always a fool." Rufus grunted in distaste. "He believed that we would never have enemies, that ShinRa could control the world. He didn't even think of an escape route, the same one that saved my life a few years ago."

"Then, who did thought of that?" Roxas asked, curiously.

The President smirked, answering, "Me. Actually, I questioned about the escape route when he showed me the blue prints, and I was five years old at the time, a child like myself wouldn't understand that kind of thing."

Roxas's group glanced at him in surprise. Even Cloud, Vincent, Yuffie, Elena, Rude and Reno stared at him, equally surprised.

"Whoa, sir." Reno chuckled, "I guess even for a five year old, you were still smarter than your old man."

"My father and I never got on anyway." Rufus nodded in agreement. Before saying, "But for now, we're getting off topic." to which everyone agreed.

"Gwarsh, Roxas. I bet that Azul fella was just tryin' to confuse ya." Goofy said.

Roxas sighed again, shrugging, "Maybe. I wanna know for sure. I have to found out."

Lea placed a hand onto his friend's shoulder, saying, "Don't do anything rash. Remember what happened when you left the Organization to figure out why the Keyblade chose you? Or how Xion ran away?" though he cringed on having to remember those times when he was still Axel.

Then Mickey had an idea, "Say fellas. I think Master Yen Sid would know. Gosh, we were suppose to be there to figure out what to do. Beside, I'm worried about Sora and Riku." to which Donald and Goofy remembered about the Mark of Mastery and both nodded in agreement.

"Who's Yen Sid?" Elena asked.

"He's Mickey's teacher." Yuffie answered.

"Whoa, sounds like a powerful guy, considering how Mickey here could freeze people in time or something." Reno thought, cleary impressed.

Lea then thought of something and looked at Isa, saying, "There's something else we gotta know."

"In the meantime, we'll continue to try and sort things out with Deepground and the Remnants, and maybe stop Hojo, since he could be back." Cloud stated.

"You mean, he was supposed to be...?" Xion trailled off.

"He was supposed to have died, but is cleary still alive." Rude said, speaking for the first time since the group got here. He wasn't normally a social person, unless he was alone with Reno who was also his best friend and a younger brother figure to him.

"Aw phooey." Donald grumbled in defeat.

"Geez, dead people don't know when to stay dead, do they?" Lea sighed, in a hint of teasing and sarcasm, which earned chuckles from everyone, even including Vincent, Rufus and Tseng.

Reno laughed, "You got that right!" as he liked Lea already. If the redhaired Turk didn't know any better, the other redhead could pass on as his twin brother.

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><p>After the conversation, Roxas, Lea, Xion, Isa, Namine, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy said their goodbyes to Cloud and the others, and finally made it back to the Mysterious Tower, while Cloud, Vincent and Yuffie returned to Radiant Garden, and Rufus and the Turks stayed behind for gather up more clues.<p>

Though as in the Mysterious Tower and speaking with Yen Sid, what Lea requested made everyone completely shocked inside the room. The words that came out of the redhead's lips had Yen Sid's eyes widened.

"WHAT!?" Mickey, Donald and Goofy exclaimed, while Roxas, Xion, Namine and Isa stared at him, shocked.

"Lea, you can't be serious." Isa muttered, "There's no way in a million years I could do that. You, I can understand, but me, no way." the blue-haired man shook his head.

Yen Sid ignored the blue-haired man's comment, and lowered his head with his eyes closed, saying, "I sensed something was amiss nearly the moment Sora and Riku departed." he paused, before continuing, "Xehanort must have known what we were attempting before we even began."

"Do you mean that guy in the silver hair is with Xehanort?" Roxas asked, "And that even Braig knew about that too?"

"I do not doubt it, Roxas." Yen Sid replied, "My speculation is that he may be after you, considering how you do strongly resemble to Ventus."

"But does Xehanort know about Sora and Riku?" Xion asked worriedly.

The old Sorcerer explained, "You must understand, this examination is in no way how the Mark of Mastery is usually found. However, in light of what they must do next...it was a necessity. If Sora and Riku complete their test, by finding the seven doors corresponding to the seven pure lights, they will return home with a new power. At that point, they will both be true masters."

"However, the dangers make this more trial than test." Yen Sid continued.

"But are they safe right now?" Mickey asked, worriedly.

"Considering their ability, I would like to believe that they are. However, all my attempts to locate Sora and Riku end...questionably." Yen Sid said, "However, it appears that someone else is keeping them from Xehanort's attempts to go near them. Who that person is, I'm afraid I do not know."

He paused, before looking at the two former Nobodies of Sora, saying, "However, it appears that he has already found followers to get to you two, and from what you say that mentioned from your friends, Cloud and Vincent, and from Rufus Shinra, the young man is seeking another man, Hojo, who is similiar to Xehanort. I fear that both of them have a lot in common."

As Yen Sid was saying this, Lea crossed his arms, deep in thought. It made some sense, but it also worried him greatly. Maybe Reno was right about Hojo. Plus, with that Braig said to him back before Xemnas was defeated, it made things worse.

"So, Roxas and I are Xehanort's moving targets." Xion thought deeply and worriedly.

"Then that means, Deepgrounds on Xehanort's side too." Roxas realised.

"I was thinking the same thing." Namine admitted.

"Xehanort is a devious tactician. There is nothing we can do that he will not, to some extent, be able to predict. And with this Hojo on the loose, we must be careful with him as well." Yen Sid agreed, looking at Lea and Isa again, "As you can see, Lea has regained his heart before this happened, and the Organization's members are complete people again. Xehanort will be no different. We cannot afford another moment's hesitation. We must consider any strategy to outwit Xehanort and catch

him off guard."

Lea looked at Isa again, and the latter sighed, knowing that there was no choice, and nodded. "Okay. Count me in." said Isa. Lea nodded in return, knowing that they had to stick together. The redhead then looked at Roxas and said, "You look after Namine and Xion until we get back, alright? No running off."

"Right." Roxas nodded, though he was worried about Sora, and Xion and Namine could only glance at each other.

Yen Sid looked at the two men again, saying, "I must warn you again-the road will not be easy."

The redhead snorted, "Fine." he said, "Let's jump right in." as he didn't look concerned. He was determined to do this right, at least as best as he could. Isa was in the same vote as him, and both of them were not going to lose each other again.

Things are about to get more interesting.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry that this chapter seems a bit shorter, but I'm running out of ideas! More twists and plot changes are coming in the future chapters to come. While it's still following the Dream Drop Distance storyline, as you can see, I've made several changes. Such as adding in Final Fantasy VII characters as important characters into the story, and, well, you get the idea. ;)**

**More answers are yet to come. In the meantime, my fellow readers, please continue your lovely reviews, and I'll see you again when the time is right.**


	16. Half of the Dark Truth II

**Second Life**

**Author's note: I know this seems like this story is getting off track, but I want to finish this before I continue my other stories that I'm meant to complete, and that I want to do ANOTHER one on top of everything else. I'm terrible that way.**

**Anywho, let's move on. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Oh, and warning, this might be either scary or upsetting...I said 'might'.***_Shrugs_*****

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH16: Half of the Dark Truth II.<strong>_

It seemed like forever since Lea and Isa were both sent into an unknown dimension where they would be trained, since in the world they were in, it was without time. So that left Roxas, Xion and Namine waiting with King Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Yen Sid, all of them were silent on this, worried for both of the men, and Sora and Riku.

Mickey was standing before his former master, gravely worried. Donald and Goofy were nervous, and Roxas, Xion and Namine couldn't help but fear for Lea and Isa's safeties.

"Master Yen Sid. Gosh, do ya think Lea and Isa will be able to do it?" Mickey asked, breaking the errie silence.

The former Keyblade Master gazed at his former student, and says, "It's clear you cannot teach a cat to bark. But Merlin and the three good fairies are aiding the young men in a place that's more...temporally flexible. My hope is that Lea and Isa can at least learn to wield it. Lea certainly has fire, so I suppose it depends now on how strongly it burns. In Isa's case, he shares a connection with the Moon's light and reflex. It depends on how brightly his light can be. As long as the two of them are together, Lea is Isa's light."

It made sense, considering how Lea and Isa grew up together, despite that their friendship was shattered when they were Axel and Saix. Though since the truth of Xemnas' agenda was revealed, Saix, the darkness of Isa, faded, while Axel gave up on living, and thus, his desire to help at the cost of his life is what made him get his heart back and revive as Lea. Not to mention that Lea and Roxas saved Isa from Braig's attempts to kidnap him.

Mickey sighed, understanding that part, before asking, "But what about Sora and Riku?"

"Well, if we are running on the assumption Xehanort knew what we were planning, then he still would need to have been there-back in the very place and time when the Destiny Islands were lost to darkness. However, Sora and Riku are still beyond his reach, because of that mysterious person who has his own agenda." Yen Sid explained, causing Goofy to tap the side of his head and think deeply and slowly.

Roxas crossed his arms, before asking, "What about that weird guy in the silver hair and black coat? He and Azul keep saying that I'm just a vessel or whatever, and that I'm Sora's darkness and Ventus's light."

"And Braig said that Roxas and I are still not human, but puppets." Xion added in a worried tone.

"What ever they could say, they are lies, so you must not be decieved." Yen Sid stated to the two former Nobodies.

"But who could've blocked Xehanort from reaching Sora and Riku?" Namine questioned, "If that person saved them, then Xehanort must've decided to reach Roxas and Xion because they were part of Sora."

"Even so, he must've had found a way to recover sooner, or possibly wanted to have Hojo's knowlage." Yen Sid thought.

"But if Roxas and Xion weren't here, do ya think Xehanort did the same thing as Sora and Riku did, and he jumped through time?" Goofy asked uneasily.

That was a good point, but it didn't seem possible. Yen Sid answered, "For that to work, a version of himself would have had to exist at both source and destination. Not even Xehanort can transport his whole body across vast reaches of time."

Then something snapped in Roxas's mind, and he gasped, realising something. "Wait!" causing everyone to glance at him, as the teenaged boy said, "Before we went back to Agrabah, Isa told me and Lea that before he woke up after being revived, he mentioned that he had a dream of seeing someone, some guy in a red coat, and a black wing that was like Sephiroth's, only on the left side. He said that the guy told him about Saix being an early example to what Xehanort wants, that's similiar to what's happened to that guy and his friends."

When they didn't get the picture, Roxas continued, "Sephiroth was experimented on by Hojo who get terrible things to Cloud and Vincent! What if Xehanort knew him in the first place and that guy who saved Isa was friends with Sephiroth?" in a tone of worry and stern. "He did experiments on Azul and the rest of Deepground too!"

"Cloud, Vincent, Reno and Rude said that the guy we met was looking for Hojo too." Xion recalled fearfully. "And I remember Vincent saying that Deepground said that he was a keeper of some kind of...Protomateria."

Yen Sid's eyes widened at this. "No! The Protomateria...was in possession of Vincent?" worrying the others even more.

"What is a Protomateria?" Mickey asked.

"It's an ancient key that is used to awaken a mighty WEAPON known as Omega, the end of life that is destined to carry the immortal souls of all life into a journey through the sea of stars, leaving the world empty and to die. The Protomateria is also used to calm Chaos, the being of discord." Yen Sid explained, "And yet, it seems that not even Vincent knew about that."

He paused, before muttering, "And I believe this man whom saved Isa may have been someone who like Sephiroth, also had his heart clouded. It was twelve years ago that the man left his world, and had a single wing. I didn't think it was a problem at the time."

"Who is he?" Namine asked.

"Genesis is his name." Yen Sid says. "If my calculations is true, then Genesis is the one who blocked Xehanot's attempts to reach Sora and Riku, and also helped Isa to return to the light."

"But Genesis blocked you too, right?" Namine inquired, and she recieved a nod for an answer.

Then Mickey also recalled something, and he gasped in horror. "Oh no! I remember-Xehanort did give up his body. It was a version of him that was possessing Riku." making the others, even Yen Sid, gasp in realization.

"No! It cannot be. Could he be that cunning, possess that kind of foresight?" Yen Sid gasped, for the first time anyone has remembered, he was concerned and worried.

The group looked at each other, and all realised that, if had not been for Genesis, then Sora and Riku would've stumbled into Xehanort's trap, though it leaves to what Genesis's attentions are. Either way, both teenagers were in extreme danger and probably didn't even know it. They were being unconsciously reeled in. But if Genesis loses that block control, then Xehanort will no doubt destroy Sora and Riku. Though it would also mean that Roxas and Xion are Xehanort's next hope.

With determination, Mickey requested, "If it's all right with you, can I go help Sora and Riku out and found out about what Genesis is up to?"

"How? You cannot enter the world of a dream. Where will you go?" Yen Sid inquired. Despite that Mickey has grown through out the years, it seems that his former apprentince still hasn't been cured, and that the sorcerer was worried if Mickey would do something stupid.

"If Xehanort really is behind all this, then it'll be a matter of time before he attacks Genesis, and then Sora and Riku won't stay in the dream worlds forever. Eventually, they're gonna reappear somewhere that we can go reach 'em. And we can even probably guess the place." Mickey stated.

Placing a hand to his heart, he muttered, "Follow the hearts, and you'll find the way." before looking back up to his master, and says, "That's something Master Aqua told me once."

Yen Sid remained silent, seeing the seriousness within Mickey's eyes, and realised that the mouse had made up his mind. Plus, it was something Aqua would do as well. If only she was here...

"If you don't mind me asking, who is Aqua?" Xion asked, somehow feeling a sense of deja vu.

"Aqua is one of the people who needs to be rescued and is connected to Sora's heart." Namine answered before the others could. "From what I gather, she's trapped within the Realm of Darkness." before looking at Yen Sid and asked, "Is that true?"

"Indeed." Yen Sid nodded, "Aqua sacrificed herself to try and save her friends, and has been trapped there for twelve years."

Xion's eyes begin to widen, and she couldn't help but ask, "Did she have...blue hair?"

Everyone gazed at her, stunned, and Mickey blinked, "How did you...?"

Seeing the reactions, Xion blinked in surprise, as she recalled seeing the blue-haired girl back when she was running from the Organization the first time. She then muttered, "I've seen her before. It was back when I wanted to know who I was. She called me Kairi. She had a Keyblade."

"That must've been Aqua!" Mickey exclaimed, though he frowned and muttered, "But, she could be anywhere."

Ignoring Mickey's second comment, Xion turned to Yen Sid and requested, "Sir, please, let me go and find Aqua! I might be able to find her and bring her back."

"I'm afraid it's an impossible task, Xion." Yen Sid said.

"I'll be fine. My coat can protect me from being swallowed by the darkness, and I can use the power of darkness too." Xion stated, "Besides, she's been there way too long."

There was silence, a long silence. Nobody spoke. However, Yen Sid looked deep into Xion's eyes, the same eyes that was born from Sora and Kairi's memories, and that were now human eyes. They held determination, one that wouldn't take 'No' for an answer. It was similiar to Mickey's.

"I'm going to tell Cloud and Vincent about what's going on." Roxas declared, "That'll give us a chance to catch Xehanort off-guard, right?"

"But what if Braig goes to attack you?" Namine asked worriedly.

Roxas shook his head, saying, "I'll be fine. Besides, I'm not stupid enough to get myself caught."

"King Mickey." Donald said to Mickey.

"We're goin' with ya." Goofy declared.

Mickey smiled in sadness, saying, "Aw fellas, you're my best pals." before stating, "But this time, I really do need to go it alone. The dangers are greater than anything we've ever faced before. If something were to happen to Sora and Riku and me-why, you'll be the only ones left to keep this world safe." which made both of his best friends sigh in disappointment.

"Aw phooey." Donald grumbled.

With this decided, Yen Sid both said to Roxas and Xion, "The youth you speak of is still on the loose. Be vigilant, the both of you."

"Right." Roxas and Xion both nodded.

Yen Sid then looked at Mickey and added, "Mickey, I was not able to locate Sora, but I sense Riku's presence in the realm between. Trust your heart, and I know you will find him."

Nodding, Mickey replied, "Thank you. I promise I'll bring them both back safe and sound."

"And I'll bring Aqua back too." Xion added.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Sora, having unlocked the final keyhole, expected to return home to the Realm of Light in the present, but when he opened his eyes again, he was in shock and confusion. He found himself within some kind of ruined city-ruined modern city that was as if destroyed by some sort of meteor or something. But he was still asleep, and this meant...<p>

"Wait." Sora muttered to himself. "This world is sleeping too? But it can't be." he started counting his fingers on how many worlds he's unlocked-_**Traverse Town**_, _**Paris**_, _**the Grid**_, the _**world of Pokemon**_, _**Pranker's Paradise**_, _**Corona**_ and _**Sympony of Sorcery**_. "I know I definitely found the seven Keyholes already. So, I've gotta be awake again and in the real world. So, where am I and what's going on?"

"_Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess._" a familiar voice quotes again, alarming Sora, while the voice continued, "_We seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface. The wandering soul knows no rest._"

As Sora tried to find the source, he senses something behind him and quickly turns to see Genesis gently land on the ground, his black wing extended, the crimson sword in his hand. The teenaged boy glared at the man who smirked, amused. "Settle down, Sora." Genesis says.

"Aren't you sick and tired of those quotes?" Sora demanded, "If didn't know any better, you're the one who brought here, aren't you?"

"It didn't take much to send Xehanort a false path." Genesis admitted, calm as usual. "Just mild detours."

Sora blinked, "Send Xehanort...a false path? What does that mean?"

The older man glanced at him, frowning. "Don't you see yet, Sora? Had it not been you or Roxas who kept Axel alive, then things would have ended in Xehanort's favor. You are the reason why destiny changed. You recall that start of your exam before you and Riku came here, do you not?"

Hearing this made Sora recall briefly seeing the robed man before he passed out just as he was about to enter the Realm of Sleep, and remembered that he saw him before the Islands were destroyed too, and that was Xehanort's Heartless.

"That's ridiculous!" Sora exclaimed.

Genesis nodded in agreement, "Dreams can be a strange thing. The minds of so many create dreams and nightmares, either based on a simple illusion or memory, or perhaps, visions of the future. However, even dreams can enter the Realm of Light. You were able to travel though time, because you already existed in the past, and thus, you were able to come here before your home was destroyed."

"How could know about all this? You weren't there at all! How did you even know about Xehanort?" Sora protested.

"Answer me this, Sora." Genesis says, gesturing at his wing, questioning, "Have you seen anyone with a black wing before?"

Sora gazed at the wing, and has a flash-back of when he first met Sephiroth back in Radiant Garden.

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Flash-Back: During the events of KH2.<strong>_

_As Sora, Donald and Goofy rushed outside to help in defeating the Heartless that suddenly invaded Hollow Bastion, the trio stopped as a sudden flash appeared in front of them, and when it faded, in front of them, stood a man with long silver hair, gothic black cloths, and a single black wing that was on the right side of his back. The man turned around, and Sora, while not showing his fear, felt chills down his spine. The man's eyes...were green and cat-like._

_"Sora! It's Sephiroth!" Donald exclaimed, remembering the description Cloud said earlier._

_"Ain't Sephiroth the one who's supposed to be the dark part of Cloud's heart?" Goofy asked, remembering that Cloud mentioned that Sephiroth holds Cloud's darkness._

_The man, Sephiroth, smirked, as he inquired in a calm, soft but dark tone, "Hmph. Did Cloud tell you that?" before stating, "Then he must understand now."_

_Sora glared at the man as if he was his own enemy. If anything, Sephiroth reminded him of Ansem-no, Xehanort's heartless. No wonder Cloud wanted to defeat him. "Just what are you gonna do to him?" Sora demanded._

_"Nothing." Sephiroth said, "Cloud is the one who hungers for Darkness."_

_The teen didn't believe him one bit, because he replied, "He said he's got a score to settle with you."_

_Nodding, Sephiroth turned around, saying, "I see... He wants to meet me again." walking away as he states, "Then I should give him what he wants. That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out." as he floats into the air with his arms raised, and in a mixture of light and darkness, he vanishes, despite that Sora tried to stop him, but it was too late._

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Back in the Present.<strong>_

Sora's eyes widened, as he muttered, "You and Sephiroth...are connected?"

"Hmph." Genesis snorted. "You could say that, in a way. But, Sephiroth was always the success in the experiment of the Jenova Project. Something you will not understand. Despite that you and Cloud were both ordinary in the body, in your hearts, both of you are the most powerful of humanity, whereas Sephiroth and Xehanort, it's the opposite." he turns around to face Sora again, adding, "Both are dangerously strong in the body, but weak in the hearts and mind."

"Because the darkness got the better of them." Sora guessed.

"More of the cause of the curse of Chaos." Genesis stated, "Chaos is the true holder of darkness, the being of Discord. It made a connection with Xehanort, because of the legend of the Keyblade war."

"But what does that have to with me being stuck here?" Sora asked.

"He wanted to lure you and Riku into a trap." Genesis replied, "He did the very same thing you and Riku did at the start of the exam. Placing himself into a body that was already his, and hoping to destroy your hearts by filling your minds with lies and illusions, so that you would fall into darkness, and become his vessels."

"Vessels...Vessels for what!?" Sora shouted, "Why me and Riku!?"

"He wants to destroy the Realm of Light by creating a new Keyblade War. In order to do so, he needed to repeat history, as another, who has created Sephiroth decided to create replicas by placing his cells into body's of those who already have souls." Genesis replied, "What you have done to Axel, Roxas and Xion were my, lets just say, wake up alarm clock, and with the power of the goddess, I was able to block Xehanort's attempts to reach you, and prevent him from marking you."

"Marking me? With what?" Sora asked. Then he realised something, and said, "So...Xehanort blocked out the way to make it back home to kill me? That makes sense. At least I know who to blame for this mess."

Genesis chuckled, "You and I share similiar thoughts, Sora. Which is why I marked you, so Xehanort would not touch you. Let me give you more of a hint on his goal." and with a wave of his hand, he fired a fire spell and knocked Sora off-guard, sending the boy to the ground, and causing him to get dizzy and begin to pass out.

"Just make sure you won't fall into the trap of Xehanort, Sora..." was Genesis's words the Sora last heard before his vision went completely black.

* * *

><p><em>When Sora opened his eyes, he was seeing so many images-painful images. A boy that looked like Roxas on a journey that revealed haunting secrets, and other people in their own struggles, a man in brown hair, and woman in blue hair, and even Roxas himself, Xion, Axel and Namine, but Sora tried to stay focused, even if he could feel tears in his eyes, his heart burning, but he tried to stay calm, knowing that he had to prevent his heart from falling into darkness.<em>

_The images ended with darkness, and Sora screamed, thinking that he lost, and refused to believe it._

* * *

><p>When he opened his eyes again, Sora found himself in a wasteland of some sorts. No greenary was seen. Large rock pillers, and craters around him as he stood on the path-cliff. He also noticed that he was back in his true age and body, back as a sixteen year old, in the clothes the three good faries gave him on the start of his journey to stop Organization XIII.<p>

"What's this?" Sora asked himself, wondering if this was another dream. He then noticed someone next to him and jumped, before seeing that the person is a boy about his age, blonde spiky hair, a face that was spitting image of his own, and some kind of clothes, with a strange armor on his left shoulder.

"Who?" Sora asked, before asking, "Roxas? No...then...?" before feeling a jolt in his heart, and gasped, grasping his chest, and panted. It then settled down and as Sora looked up again, the boy was running away towards into the valley below.

"Hey! Wait!" Sora cried out, rushing to catch up with him.

Suddenly, the sceneray changed around him, and the next thing Sora knew, he found himself on an empty plain of dust and dirt and wind, and he gasped as he also noticed several-no, millions of Keyblades, all different shapes, pierched on the ground, lifeless, like a graveyard. Looking around, Sora caught sight of a man, about in his early twenties, maybe about Lea's age, in brown hair, and similiar clothes to the boy he saw earlier.

What caught Sora off-guard was that this young man had the similiar hair-style and expression of Xehanort, but how was that possible? And why did he look familiar? Both the man and Sora heard footsteps, and turned to see a young woman with blue hair, walking towards them. She stopped and gazed at the brown-haired man.

"_I was told...the Master was struck down._" said the woman after a silence.

Sora was confused, but by the gasp of the man, told him that this wasn't all of the bad news. The man eventually admitted in a hint of guilt and anger, "_Yes...that's right. I was stupid and helped Xehanort do it_." earning a gasp from both Sora and the woman, while the man continued, "_The Master-he tried to hurt Ven. I only fought because I wanted to protect him_."

Ven...that was the name of one of the people Sora was destined to save. His eyes widened in realization; He was witnessing memories that were deep in his heart, and these people, are the other two who need his help. The man was Terra and the woman was Aqua who sighed after Terra told her about Ven.

"_But I was tricked. Xehanort set the whole thing up-all so he could awaken the darkness inside me_." Terra continued, before turning to his friend, admitting, "_You were right, Aqua-and so was the Master. I did need to be watched_."

Hearing this made Sora think about how Riku was in the similiar vote. Both Riku and Terra, both tricked into doing Xehanort's bidding. This was making Sora hate Xehanort even more, but the teen knew, he had to calm down. He couldn't let Xehanort get to him too, not when the people who are connected to his heart need him. They were counting on him. At that moment, Sora no longer cared if he did become a Keyblade Master or not. He didn't care about earning the title in the first place. It was about stopping Xehanort, and Sora was determined to do so, if even means the cost of his life.

Aqua was uncertain after Terra said that he would no longer go astray. She then muttered, "_What else is darkness but hate and rage? Xehanort is feeding the dark fires within you-making you fight. You'll go astray again_." she looked up at him, and asked, "_Tell me-how does that honor our Master's memory, Terra?_"

Though that was meant towards to Terra, Sora felt that it was directed to him as well. This what Xehanort had wanted; To make everyone fight, so they could fall into the darkness, to die and he would be free to do as he pleases, killing everyone and destroying everything in his path, to create nothing but a dark realm all over, light to darkness, life to death...forever. Sora lowered his head, feeling lost and defeat.

There was no way to defeat Xehanort ever. He was just too powerful, too smart, too fast. It was all over the moment he was born. There was no hope now. The end was coming, and there was no way of stopping it.

Before Sora could fall into despair, he, Terra and Aqua heard more footsteps and turned to see that the boy, who Sora now assumed was Ventus, approach him before the other boy stopped, looking just as lost and guilty as Sora felt.

"_Xehanort wants me and Vanitas to fight, and make some kind of "_X-blade_."_" Ven began. "_But the Master said we can't let that happen...and he tried to destroy me for it_."

"_X-Blade?_" Aqua echoed Sora's confused thought.

Ven shook his head, "_I still don't know exactly what it is. But...it scares me to death. Even just the thought of it_." clutching his chest where his heart rested, and Sora felt the same hurt inside his heart.

Terra and Aqua both went up to their youngest friend, and the former said in a normal tone, "_Relax, Ven. We're here and we're gonna take care of you_." and Aqua nodded in agreement.

But Ven wasn't convinced, as he looked like he was about to cry, knowing that there was only one thing to do, though Sora felt more pain than ever. "_I may have to fight Vanitas after all. If I do, guys... I want you to-_"

"_The three of us can never be torn apart, all right?_" Terra cuts him off, gently squeezing his hold on Ven's shoulder, "_I'll always find a way_." while Aqua cupped Ven's cheek with her hand. Seeing this made Sora think about Lea, Roxas, Xion, Namine, Kairi, Riku and himself.

Gently pushing away his friends' hands, Ven requested in a heart-broken tone, having made his final decision, "_I'm asking you, as a friend... Just...put an end to me_."

Terra and Aqua gasped in heart-broken horror, and Sora was beginning to think that maybe there was no way in saving these three. Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine may have been saved, but for what? The end of the Realm of Light to tear them about again? For Sora to be torn away from Riku and Kairi? For everyone, friends, families, adults and innocent children, to be born only to face a cruel fate to disappear forever? Why was life created when if was to end tragically?

Suddenly, the winds picked up, and the three friends, and Sora turned to look were the winds were coming from, and from a path to the left ahead of them, was an old man with an evil look, golden eyes, and smirking at them in pure evil. Next to him, was a masked boy, in an outfit that reminded Sora of when Riku was possessed, except that the masked guy's was red instead of purple.

Sora and the others glared at the old man who gestured at the Keyblades, saying in a dark and deep old tone, "_Behold... These lifeless keys used to be full of power-united with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat...as a great Keyblade War raged_." he raised his arms as if this was the greatest thing that ever happened. He then continued, "_Countless Keyblade wielders gave up their lives, all in search of one, ultimate key. And it will soon belong to me..._"

The man then pointed at Ven, concluding, "_X-Blade_."

Now Sora was beyond confused. Was Ven a wielder of this 'X-Blade'? It only puzzled him, but Sora was helpless as he could only watch, though he was amazed as the things on Ven's, Aqua's and Terra's left shoulders were activated and created armors, their Keyblades in hand.

However, everyone around Sora disappeared, and he was alone in the dark, except for sudden strange people in black coats surrounding him, causing Sora to summon his own Keyblade. He then realised that this was Geneis's warning.

"No..." Sora muttered, "I won't...give into the darkness." finding new strength and determination rise inside him, and, memories of his friends, all of the adventures, all the happy times and all the fun, it reminded him that he never gave up. Realising this, Sora declared, "My friends are my power!" feeling light burn his heart, but it was a good burn, one that felt comfortable instead of hurting him.

With a yell, Sora threw his Keyblade like a boomarang, and catching the cloaked men off-guard, they were all hit and they were immediatley vanquished in one go.

While he sighed in relief, Sora then blinked as he realised he somehow morhped back to when he first arrived in the Realm of Sleep, and now he found himself somewhere else. Sora blinked as he realised where he was.

The Station of Awakening.

Remembering that he first came here in a dream before the island was destroyed, Sora turned around and came face to face...with his arch enemy. Walking backwards, Sora then made a run for it, but stopped himself before he fell over the edge, then turned back to the giant Darkside Heartless, one that he was unable to defeat the first time around.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Sora knew that if he didn't do something now, he'll most likely fall into darkness. Summoning his Keyblade, Sora deeply thought about everyone back at home, and, not fully knowing if he'll survive this or not, knew that he had no other choice.

Charging, Sora dodged the Darkside's powerful fist before he slashed against it with his Keyblade, before leaping out of the way again and destroyed summoned smaller Heartless, then clashed at the Darkside's legs, causing it pain, before he leaped up and landed onto it's shoulder before he slashed and sliced at it's head, before it roared and made to grab him, but Sora jumped out of the way just in time, and, hoping that this trick would work, aimed his Keyblade at the Darkside, light shooting like a beam out of it, and it hits the giant Heartless which roared in pain.

With the Darkside weakened, Sora saw his chance, and leaped up, with a yell, he slashed as hard as he could at it, before landing back onto the glass platform, staying as far away from the giant Heartless as he could.

Sora kept vigilent in case the Heartless was ready for another round. He remembered how he fearfully allowed it to swallow him, and he wasn't going to let that happen, if he could help it.

Surprisingly, the Darkside collasped on it's front, Sora having jumped out of the way just in time, while his arch enemy finally disappears, though in it's place, was a familiar boy, and Sora's eyes widened in horror as the the other boy fell as well, darkness seeping underneath him.

"NO!" Sora screamed as he rushed towards the other boy to try and save him.

But will he make it?

* * *

><p><strong>Okay...I know it's a cliff-hanger, but don't worry, this is not the end yet! Please continue your awesome reviews and I'll see you in the next chapter, where the unexpected continue.<strong>

**Rule number 3: Expect the Unexpected!(Quote from Ice Age 3 Game, lol.)**


	17. Half of the Dark Truth III

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, guys. Loss of inspiration and lack of ideas. It's getting harder to come up to the ending of my stories, and I always seem to get stuck in figuring out what happens next.**

**Well, I'll try my hardest, and let's continue on. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>CH16: Half of the Dark Truth III.<strong>_

Back in the Realm of Light, out of the corridor of darkness, came Roxas running out as he made it back to Midgar and found himself in the alley of the streets of Edge. He looked around and found that the streets were empty, no one was around, and it was nighttime now. The former Nobody glanced around carefully, wondering where Cloud and Vincent could be.

"Last time I saw them, they were at the WRO Headquarters." Roxas thought to himself, "Maybe I should try there and ask Reeve where they are."

"So, the little kitten lost his mitten?" a familiar voice spoke out from nowhere, alarming the boy.

Roxas, quickly realising who it is, immediately summoned his Oblivion Keyblade, not taking any chances. He refused to allow himself getting caught, especially by this one-eyed idiot. "Show yourself, Braig!" he demanded. He then sensed something and looked up, only for seconds later to leap out of the way from a familiar laser-bullet, just as Braig leaped down from a metal piller and landed on the ground, smirking away, but then Roxas realised that Braig was different now; he was in his Organization coat, and the familiar white lines on his black hair made him look like he was his Nobody-self; Xigbar, all over again.

Seeing this, the blonde haired boy couldn't help but sighed, "Please tell me you didn't go and split yourself up into a heartless and a nobody all over again, did you?"

"Absolutely, Roxas." Braig grinned, "But you're only half-close. I never thought you'd be in the way all over again. If you'd taken the Mark of Mastery, then we'd would've taken you in and guided you right to where you really belong."

"What!?" Roxas gasped, "How'd you know about the Mark of Mastery!? And what do you mean, _"where I belong"_?"

"Simple; Xehanort and another little dark fellow knows everything, seeing into the darkness is like some goddess seeing through the Lifestream. Except for one small problem," Braig explained, "We have no idea on how Sora and Riku managed to escape us and out of our radar, not knowing where they are, except for the mind of the Planet."

"You mean the Heart of the world?"

"That too. If it hadn't been for the mysterious helper, then you and Sora wouldn't be alive ever again, never waking up ever again. That's your real destiny."

That's when it made sense to Roxas, as he exclaimed, "Of course! Xehanort would've tried to get to Sora and Riku in the past, and then lead them into his trap in the Realm of Sleep to kill them!"

"Bingo!" Braig laughed, approaching Roxas who backed away, as the older man continued, "Sora was able to go back in time to just before his home became a Sleeping World, only because a past version of him already existed there. And I can see in the past, that Sora already met Mr. Robe Guy."

He then grumbled, "But due to _you_ saving Axel, something happened that made you, the little poppet, and the little witch all human, and it somehow made a door to block us out to get to Sora, and now, he's marked by Omega-the Final WEAPON of the Lifestream." he then grinned again, and said, "So, we decided for a new Plan-B: Get to you and Xion, and then allow DeepGround to get to the keeper of the Protomateria who, believe it or not, holds the gene of Chaos, Omega's counterpart."

"So Xehanort wants get to me and Xion because we're still part of Sora, even if the two of us are human and our own selves now." Roxas realized, "That makes sense." before turning around and pointing his Keyblade threateningly at Braig, saying, "At least I know who to blame!" glaring at him.

This only made Braig laughed and he mocked, "Ooh! I see you've still got that angry look down. You really are Ventus's light."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about all that! I was born from Sora, wasn't I!?" Roxas snapped.

"True, you were born from Sora, but what you did was keeping Ventus extra safe, which is why..." Braig trailled off, then shrugged, "You know what? I'll let someone else show you and go through few more hoops I gotta jump through." before leaping away, and then reappears upside down in the air above Roxas, laughing as he shoots the ground around him with thirteen bolts. In each bolt's place, a cloaked figure appears. In front of Roxas, stands the silver-haired young man who holds out his hand.

"Come with me." said the Youth.

Roxas just glared at him, before he felt dizzy, but he managed to fight it off, and snapped, "No! You can forget about it!" and held up his Keyblade, chanting, "THUNDER!" and from the bolts of lightning he casted, the twelve cloaked figures were easily vanquished, while the silver-haired youth jumps out of the way, while Roxas leaps away as well, standing in a fighting stance. However, as Roxas looked into the youth's eyes, they held a familiar golden glint, and for a brief second, in front of the youth, was an ghostly image of an older man, about in his eighties, smirking evilly at him, along with flickering images of "Ansem" and Xemnas, and even Xigbar and the boy of the mask but without the mask, before the images disappear, leaving the silver-haired youth again.

"Xehanort!?" Roxas guessed in horror, feeling and suddenly seeing memories not his own, but Ventus's, memories of the old man hurting Ventus in many ways, seeing the nightmares Xion has described earlier, and even seeing Sora in his Station of Awakening, defeating the Darkside Heartless, and in the end of the battle, another boy collasping and fading into darkness, Sora running to save him. At this, Roxas shut his eyes tightly, and things flashed in his vision.

When Roxas opened his eyes again, he found himself confused, as he was suddenly back on Destiny Islands, but something was different. He notices the silver-haired youth, and the robed figure speaking to him.

"Yes. This was where it started." a voice spoke next to him, causing Roxas to turn to his left, as the silver-haired youth in the cloak continued, "At this point, I still had no idea that I was talking to myself. He cast away his bodily form just to set me on the appointed path."

Roxas blinked in shock, as he muttered in realization, "You...You're Xehanort from the past!...Your future-self found another way of time-travel, and managed to get you into the future?"

"That's right, and I arrived at that castle before you and Axel came, Roxas, where you saved Saix before we could take him with us." The youth, now known as Young Xehanort, nodded. "You're quite clever than I expected, the smart-side of Sora, but the body of Ventus."

"And since the first journey, you made the guess and so you know everything that we're trying to do." Roxas figured.

"Indeed."

That's when Roxas shook his head, and did everything in his inner power to wake up and get back to reality, only to see another memory, this time, he was in the Station of Awakening, but it was a different one. Roxas looked around, and then in front of him, saw a young boy, about four years old, with familiar brown spiky hair and blue eyes, in a white shirt and reed shorts and sandshoes, looking around curiously.

"Sora?" Roxas asked, puzzled. The little Sora didn't seem to notice him, instead, the younger version of Sora looked up and a glowing light descents slowly towards him.

"_Hey! Can you hear me?_" Young Sora called out.

"_I heard your voice._" a voice said, and is sounded like Roxas's voice, but he wasn't speaking. The former Nobody looked up and realised what it was; it was Ventus's heart, after Ventus lost it. The heart floated down and floated into young Sora's hands, while Ven's heart continued, "_It cut through the darkness around me. All alone, I followed the sound, into a sea of light...and found myself here, with you._"

Roxas watched in awe, as Ven's heart continued to Young Sora, "_You gave me something back when I needed it most. A second chance._"

"_I did?_" asked Young Sora, innocently confused.

"_But...Now I have go back to sleep again._" said Ven's heart, and he sounded sad. Roxas understood that part.

"_Are you sad?_" Young Sora inquired, feeling sorry for the 'light'. Deep down, he wished there was something he could do to help.

There was a moment of silence, until the heart seemingly asked, "Would you mind if I stayed here, with you?"

Without hesitation and not knowing what will happen, Young Sora nodded, replying, "Sure, if it'll make you feel better."

"Thank you." and with that, the heart floated right into Sora's chest, and the little boy allowed it to do so, causing Roxas's eyes to widen even further.

Shutting his eyes again, Roxas then found himself back in Edge, back in Reality, and he had enough time to jump out of the way of Braig's laser-bullets again.

"Great; Time freezes and we had no chance in getting you." Braig grumbled as he approached again. "So, what did you see, Roxas?"

Roxas glared at him, then admitted, "Sora's heart and Ventus's heart were connected, ever since Ventus lost his heart, and he sensed that Sora's heart was strong enough to help him."

"That made sense." Braig said, adding in a strong tone of sarcasm, "Thank you, Sora's heart, for making things more difficult."

"I know that you told Axel that Kingdom Hearts wasn't going to give us hearts of our own, but to turn into one single person and destroy our minds!" Roxas accussed, "Tell me! What does Xehanort really want?"

Braig pretended to consider, then smirked and explained, "Here's a little lecture; Years ago, there was this one Scientest named Hojo, who had plans for his experiments to go into motion and turn into reality."

Roxas gasped, as he remembered what Tseng mentioned earlier, "_**Before Sephiroth left this world and Cloud went to chase after him, Hojo, the ShinRa Company's head scentist, experimented on many people for his own deeds behind everyone's backs, even Rufus's father who was President at the time**_."

"You're talking about the former Head Scentist who thought he could experiment on people like he was the only person in the world." Roxas muttered.

"Oh, so you heard of him, huh?" Braig smirked, then continued, "So anyway, he planned on creating an experiment on a 'Jenova Reunion', thirteen copies to lead to Jenova itself, a being not born from the Realm of Light. Anywho, Hojo had an idea of placing a powerful SOLDIER's cells into twelve suitable bodies, which were also Jenova cells implanted before the SOLDIER was born, and the cells would then take over the body and mind and do Jenova's bidding. Where do you think Xehanort got this idea from?"

Roxas gasped in horror, as asked, "Xehanort wants to place his cells into us before we got our hearts back!?"

"Not his cells," Braig corrected, "Now then, back to our time; Xehanort had made experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes, so, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation."

"So you lied to us and attempted to destroy us forever for your experiments?" Roxas growled.

"Quit interrupting!" Braig snapped, before continuing, "Xemnas and Xehanort formed the Organization for a specific reason-round up a bunch of empty husks, hook them up to Kingdom Hearts, then fill them all with the exact same heart and mind. Translation-they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort."

"More Xehanorts?" Roxas asked softly, then he realised what this means. "I get it now. Thirteen Xehanorts to create the Keyblade War and end all life into darkness forever, no returning worlds to the light. Xehanort wants nothing more than a mass death."

"And you would've been the thirteenth vessel, had it not been for Sora and Ventus already being one step ahead. Think about it; Why do you resemble to Ventus rather than Sora?" Braig inquired.

Roxas then blinked his eyes, and he recalls Sora stabbing himself with the dark Keyblade, and then his own memory for when he first was born and woke up in Twilight Town, and then put the two and two together. In Roxas's mind, he could see Ventus' heart escape from Sora as Kairi's heart returned to her body, and while Sora returned to his human form, Ventus's heart made it's way to a forming born of a nobody and in a flash of light, a human body is born, but in different clothes, and no memories.

He then remembered the dreams he and Xion had, and it made more sense now.

"Ven's heart...was inside me all that time, until Sora and I rejoined together, and before Xion and I became human?" Roxas asked, stunned. "But...why did Xion and I wield Sora's Keyblade and not Ventus's?"

"That part, I admit, I have no idea." Braig replied, "But hey, I met that kid once, in the Keyblade Graveyard." as a flash-back appeared in his own mind.

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Flash-Back: During the events of both Ven's and Aqua's stories-Birth By Sleep.<strong>_

_As Aqua tended to a nearly frozen Ventus who was slowly thawing out, an unfamiliar voice said cockingly behind them, "How 'bout you leave the popsicle with me, so you can go have your little fight with Terra." causing them to turn around and saw who they didn't know was Braig who, by now, had his Heart half-taken over by Xehanort._

_Braig continued as he stole a quick glance at the blue heart-shaped moon above them, "You can't be too happy about him deep-sixing your Master."_

_Aqua, sensing the darkness in this man, demanded, "Who are you?"_

_But instead of answering, Braig just stated, "You think you two have got some grand role to play. As if. You're only here so that when I finish you off...Terra will succumb to the darkness." He smirked as he looked at the two Keyblade wielders, with Ventus glaring at him, full of hatred, "So...who wants to go first?"_

_"Shut up!" Ventus snapped._

_Instead, Braig just smirked, enjoying Ven's anger, saying, "Oh, so this kiddo thinks he's a full-fledged Keyblade wielder? He's got the angry look down."_

_"Go ahead if you want to waste your time. Keep trying to drive us apart with your mind games. It'll never work!" Aqua states, also glaring at him, and angry that this man would insult Terra, before she gently places Ven down, and then stood up, summoning her Keyblade, adding, "Terra will prove to you he's stronger!"_

_And the two fought, though Braig was exhausted, panting away while the enemy in front of him wasn't tired at all. He then grumbled, remembering his last encounter with Terra back in Radiant Garden(and how he lost his right eye), "I keep forgetting-don't mess with Keyblade wielders. But you know what? That just means I made the right choice!"_

_Just as Aqua was about to charge at him again, Braig smirked, saying, "Well...he wanted me to buy time, and I'd say he got it." before running off again._

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Back in the Present.<strong>_

"So you joined Xehanort twelve years ago?" Roxas demanded, "Why the hell would you do that!? It's wrong to destroy the lives in the Realm of Light! Besides, isn't being a Xehanort scary?"

"I'm already Half-Xehanort." Braig answered, and Roxas could see why; the ears and the eyes.

"So now, it's your turn, Roxas. Join us." Braig said, holding out his hand, as the past version of Xehanort appeared again along side him.

Roxas stood there for a moment, then glared at both of them, stating, "I don't think so. Xehanort is no God, and neither is Hojo, or you. We make our own choices, and I made my own choices, even if the heart inside me wasn't my own, and I don't care."

"You do realise that the Keyblade didn't originaly choose Sora. Why would that thing choose a whimp like him?" Braig mocked.

"Sora's not a whimp!" Roxas shouted, "He was brave even as a kid! He made the right choices, even stood his ground when he first lost the Keyblade! Sora never ran away from anything! I know him, because I was part of him, even if I'm kinda like a copy of Ventus, but I have my own heart now! It's because of him and his desire to stay with his friends and help all of us in protect the things that matter, that the worlds were protected!"

He paused, before getting into a fighting position, stating, "I don't know if I can survive long enough to help him in the future, but the least I can do is buy him time to stop Xehanort, and keep my best friends save too!" and as he spoke the next words, a ghostly image of Sora and a ghost image of Ventus appeared in front of him, in the same/similiar fighting stance, his voice sounding a bit hybrid of Sora's voice and Ventus's voice, "My friends are my power!" before the images disappeared, much to Braig's horror.

"Those are just words..." Braig stated nervously, trying to mock Roxas again, but now that he realised that Roxas is a real human, with his own heart connecting with Sora's and Roxas's, he was admittedly scared.

"Oh really? Then what does that make us then?" a strangely familiar voice spoke, almost seeming to be laughing. When Braig and Young Xehanort turned around, both of them were knocked down to the ground, Braig knocked on the face by a headbutt by a familiar tall man in sunglasses before being punched strongly-painfully hard, and Young Xehanort smacked and kicked to the ground by a familiar red-haired man, before the two men, along with Cloud and Vincent formed circle and joined Roxas in now trapping Braig and Young Xehanort.

Braig looked up and gapped in dumbfounded surprise, spluttering at the red-haired man, "AXEL!? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Axel? Whoa, you got the wrong guy. The name's Reno; Second in Command of the Turks." Reno spoke, as he was the one who spoke in the first place.

"Roxas, are you okay?" Cloud asked to the surprised and relieved teen.

"Cloud! Vincent! Reno! Rude!" Roxas exclaimed happily, and the four men nodded at him, with Reno having his usual trademark grin.

"Thought you could use some help, since we came here on an investigation in the first place." Reno chuckled, before stating, "Not to mention that you kinda brought one of our targets right into our hands." looking at Young Xehanort who glared at him.

Braig wasn't paying attention to what Reno was saying, and he just muttered in confusion, "Since when there was another un-related twin!? I thought Sora and Ventus were the only ones? But Axel and this guy?"

"Shut up, you!" Reno snapped coldly at the one-eyed man who just glared back, before the redhead turned his attention to the silver-haired youth, muttering, "You know, you've caused us serious trouble, injuring us and our President, siding with Kadaj's gang, and looking for Proffessor Creep-Show who's supposed to be dead, and then probably sided with Deepground and knocking out Chocobo-head and Vampire-boy and stealing this Materia thing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're on the executioner's road, kid."

"You think this is over?" Young Xehanort inquired, "It's all just beginning-of the true end."

"Tell us what you want." Cloud demanded, pointing his Fusion Swords at him.

"He's Xehanort!" Roxas quickly stated, causing the four men to look at him, as the teen continued, "This is Xehanort's younger self from the past that he managed to somehow bring into the future via time-travel! Xehanort wants to create thirteen replicas of himself to create a war that'll destroy everything!"

"Time-Travel?" Vincent asked, confused.

"From the past?" Cloud added.

Reno and Rude looked at each other, before they looked at Young Xehanort again, and Reno asked, "Wait a minute. Are you saying that that old guy you mentioned earlier is this kid who was brought into our present? How the hell does that work? There can't be more of that guy, unless he made clones of himself."

"Already did." Braig laughed, causing everyone to look at him again, as he continued, "Think of this a flash a deja-vu with Sephiroth-You know, the nightmare?"

Flash backs appeared in Cloud's mind and he gasped in horror, realising what this means. "Xehanort is doing what Hojo wanted to do with Sephiroth, and Kadaj and his gang are parts of Sephiroth."

"Another mastermind behind all this." Vincent grunted in anger.

Suddenly he jolts as he suddenly feels massive pain in his chest, and he collaspes, alarming the Turks and his friends, but they suddenly see that his body begins to glow red, and Braig and Young Xehanort, seeing this, both grinned in delight at this.

"Vincent?" Roxas asked worriedly, about to approach, but Cloud holds him back.

"Watch out!" Reno cried out, "Vincent's gonna go into Chaos-mode!"

"Chaos-mode?" Roxas asked, shocked.

"Just the distraction that Xehanort needs. So this glowing guy is the one who holds the Protomateria and is Chaos's vessel?" Braig laughed, before he and Young Xehanort leaped into the air, and just as the Turks and the others looked just in time to see them escape, behind Reno came a portal of darkness, and more figures appeared.

"Look out!" Roxas screamed.

But Reno was too late just as he turned, the unexpected arrival of Loz punches him hard in the face, sending the redhead back, and as Rude tried to catch his partner, he was sent back himself along with Reno, and then large figure of Azul appeared and sends another giant shock-wave towards them, sending the Turks crashing into Cloud and Roxas and all four of them were flown half-way down the street, landing on the ground hard, though both Cloud and Rude managed to prevent Roxas and Reno from hitting hard onto the ground, but all four of them were now near exhausted, as the combined attacks from Loz and Azul did severe damange.

As the four of them looked up, they were horrified to see Kadaj and his group, Azul, Rosso, the white-haired shirtless man, and the masked man, and even Xemnas and "Ansem", and, to Cloud's and the Turks' horror, the man who was behind Sephiroth's birth, and even an old man only Roxas recongised, dark-evil-like Keyblade in hand.

"What!?" Roxas gasped.

"Kadaj's gang, Deepground and Hojo?" Cloud asked, shocked.

Hojo laughed at the shocked and horrified expressions on the four of them, saying, "So the failed specimen C and the useless Tuks are surprised to see me again? Pitiful! Just Pitiful!"

"Even with the body that was once Sora's but is actually whom I've been seeking, but no longer holds the Power of the X-Blade. Ventus is no longer a use." says the Old Keyblade wielder, staring at the angered Roxas, before glancing down at the now unconscious Vincent, "For as this vessel of Chaos would make a perfect final vessel, now that there is no longer a need for a regular Keyblade."

As Reno tried to stand up in pain, he asked, "Who're you, old man?" Then turned to Roxas and asked, "What's a 'X-Blade' and why did he call you Ventus?"

"That is none of your business." Yazoo said in his usual melodramatic voice. "Our plans are now put into motion, and once they are complete, that'll be the end of everything."

Reno turned to glare at the long-haired silver-headed man, snapping, "If it's for the stupid reunion, then forget your little reunion and get a grip already!"

"What do you need Jenova's head for!?" Rude demanded.

"Mother would know," Loz stated, "When she gets to us, she and Xehanort will decide what's best."

"All we want is mother, so where is she?" Kadaj inquired.

"Go find someone else to ask and leave Vincent and Roxas alone!" Cloud demanded, as he, Roxas, Reno and Rude all stood up slowly.

Xehanort smirked, saying, "Only Kadaj and his brothers wish for their mother's return, and I am so ever kind enough to grant them their wish."

"Mother, schmother!" Reno grumbled, "It's Jenova's friggin' head!"

"Hey!" Kadaj yelled in anger.

"I will not have you refer to mother that way!" Yazoo added.

"You meanie!" Loz added, sounding like a child and as if he was about to cry. If it was a different situation, Roxas would've laughed at this.

Cloud, Roxas, Rude and Reno all glanced at each other, shrugging, before turning back to their enemies, then readied themselves to fight, much to the amusement of Hojo and Master Xehanort.

"You all think you can win, but in the end, you have lost the war that hasn't even begin yet!" Hojo cackled.

"Shut up!" Cloud demanded.

"Face it; it is the darkness that shall last for all eternity, and every life shall fade into nothing, just as it was meant to be. In the end, every heart returns to darkness for whence it came." Ansem stated.

"What the hell are you saying!?" Reno demanded, "None of that makes sense!"

"You were never ment to know, nor that you were ever ment to be." Xehanort stated, "It is time for you to return to NOTHING!" he declared as with swing of his Keyblade, a dark gust of wind knocked the four of them before Cloud, the Turks and Roxas had a chance and all were knocked down once again, this time, all of them losing consciousness. Before Roxas could pass out, he could see Xehanort and his evil group turn to Vincent and Azul picked him out, before all of them vanished into darkness.

Before he lost consciousness, Roxas's last thoughts were, '_Vincent..._'

* * *

><p>"NO!" Sora screamed as he rushed towards the other boy to try and save him. Just as the boy nearly disappeared completely, Sora managed to grab hold of the boy's body, and as hard as he could, without sinking into the darkness himself, Sora pulled hard to get the other boy out.<p>

"Don't-Don't give up yet!" Sora cried out.

"_Sora! You can do it! Sora!_" a familiar voice rang into his ears, echoing, and in surprise, Sora recongised it.

"Riku!?" Sora cried out.

"_C'mon, Sora! Don't let the nightmare get to you! You have to control your dreams!_" came Riku's voice.

Realising what his best friend ment, Sora nodded, more determined than ever, as he replied, "Right!" and continued to pull the blonde-haired boy out of the darkness, listening to his heart, saying to himself, 'This is my dream...I can control it!' and his body glowed in light, and with one last pull, Sora finally managed to get the other boy out of the darkness and both of them landed onto the platform, the darkness disappearing completely.

Panting, Sora looked at the other who was starting to wake up, but was still tired, the boy whom now Sora knew who it was.

It was Ventus's heart.

"_Sora...Thank you._" said Ventus, before everything around them brightened in light, and Sora looked up, to see his best friend descending, his hand reached out for him, and without hesitation, knowing deep in his heart that was indeed Riku, Sora grabbed onto his friend's hand, and both of them began to float back up.

The next thing Sora knew, he was waking up.

* * *

><p>(<strong>Something a little extra<strong>)

**_Earlier, before the attack at WRO..._**

The near lifeless bodies of Tseng, the director of the Turks, and Elena, the youngest in the Turks, were left in a forest of glowing trees, both unconscious, but still alive, brutely tortured, but they were at least still alive. Neither thought they would survive, but as they were slipping in and out of unconsciousness, a figure descends from the sky with a single white wing in a ghostly form, and picked the two up gently, before flying away towards his destination.

"Don't worry." said the man who had short smooth black hair and blue eyes. "You'll both be alright.

* * *

><p><strong>Another cliff-hanger, but at least Sora made it in time, and Riku was there to support him! But what will become of Vincent? What about Roxas, Cloud and the Turks? And where's Xion? Who was the man in the little extra that saved Tseng and Elena who seemed fine earlier? Those shall be answered in the next chapter.<strong>

**In the meantime, please continue your awesome reviews, my fellow readers, and I'll see you next time.**


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